A Devil's Way of Redemption
by LanceSennin
Summary: One by one, Tatsumi witnesses the deaths of his friends in Night Raid, but their story doesn't end there! With the help of the Evil Pieces, he secretly reincarnates them into devils and as his servants! What's going to happen when they wake up hundreds of years after the war on the capital, in the year 2012, where another war could possibly happen, one that would affect the world?
1. Prologue

**Arc 1: Restart**

_"Hurry up and help me retrieve Sheele's body, Tatsumi!" Mine shouted out of desperation towards her comrade, who quickly rushed towards her position. "I refuse to let the Empire have their hands on our friend, even if she's already dead!"_

_"Got it!" Tatsumi responded, getting a good look at Sheele's dead body. She had several claw and bite marks all over her already bloody self, as a result of her fight against Seryu and her biological teigu._

_"Hurry it up, I just saw that more guards are coming your way!" Leone exclaimed, after scouting the area if there were more enemies approaching. "I'm going on ahead, either leave Sheele here or get your asses going!" she said with tears in her eyes._

_Mine stomped on the ground repeatedly in frustration before running after Leone, because they would be unable to bring their friend's dead body back. "Tatsumi! Get out of there!" she called out to their newest member, who continued to stare down at Sheele._

_The moment the guards arrived on the scene however, they froze in place as if Esdeath used her teigu on them._

_But that wasn't the case._

_"I never thought I'd get to use my powers here for the first time." Tatsumi said to himself in amusement as he lowered down his arm and knelt down beside Sheele, pulling out something from his pocket._

_"I can't let you die here, Sheele. You deserve more than this… don't worry__… __you'll soon live your life like one of us…"_

_He pulled out his hand and revealed four chess pieces, more specifically, pawns._

"_You'll live for me."_

_That night, nobody in Night Raid asked why Tatsumi didn't return with Sheele's body, nor did they even ask if he was able to prevent the Empire from getting their hands on her._

* * *

_Tatsumi had his hair shadowing over his eyes, with Bulat's dead body lying before him. The _**Incursio **_user died of his wounds after a hard-fought battle against his former superior, leaving Tatsumi to finish off the remaining one of Esdeath's Three Beasts by inheriting his own teigu._

"_A-Aniki…" he muttered, tears threatening to flow out of his eyes as _**Incursio **_fell to the floor with a clang._

_After only a few weeks of being with Night Raid, he had come to recognize Bulat as a strong comrade, partner, maybe even brother. He was one of the main reasons why he had developed so much in such little time, also proving that he was compatible to be the next user of _**Incursio**_._

_He clenched his fists and turned his attention to the teigu beside him, before reverting back to Bulat. Tatsumi did this several times as multiple thoughts ran through his mind, before coming to a single conclusion._

"No. I won't let you die here!" _he thought to himself, quickly pulling something out from his pocket. _"Even if I have to use up another, I can't let someone dear to me slip away when I can save him! He's strong, anyway! He's one of the strongest humans I've known in my time here so far…"

_He pulled out another chess piece, a rook this time, as it hovered above Bulat's chest…_

* * *

_Tatsumi was running away from Kurome and her puppets through the deep forest. He opted not to fly away, as he could be easily seen in the sky and may get shot down by their enemies if he did. Chelsea was in his arms, already dead after Kurome killed her._

"That was a close call… I didn't have much time with that distraction." _Tatsumi took a few deep breaths to himself, before looking at Chelsea's bloody face._

"_It's too late, then." Tatsumi growled underneath the armor, cursing himself for not arriving on time to protect his friends. "I'm such an idiot! I'm supposed to be more powerful than everyone here, so I can protect those who I care about! Is this… is this what it's like to be fighting in a war?"_

_Looking around him, he tried to see if there were any enemies incoming but once he felt that nobody was on his tail, he stopped running and laid Chelsea down carefully, before laying out his right palm before him._

"_Chelsea… I don't know how… but in the short time that we've been together…" Four chess pieces suddenly materialized on top of his hand, before hovering towards Chelsea's chest._

_A lone tear fell from his eye. "I feel like I can't let go of you just yet."_

_Chelsea's body started to glow, just as the four pawns began to glow as well._

* * *

_He didn't know how, but Tatsumi miraculously managed to recover Lubbock's body back from the palace. It was a horrifying sight to see another one of his friends die, but Tatsumi kept a composed look this time as he flew away from the Imperial palace._

_Him and Lubbock were sent on an infiltration mission today, and although he didn't expect it, he wasn't all that surprised when he saw Lubbock's body impaled on multiple spears. Having experienced three previous deaths, he had to keep his emotions in check this time. Luckily, he was able to escape with Lubbock in time before the guards who were chasing him could call for reinforcements._

_Tatsumi looked at the gaping hole on Lubbock's midsection without emotion, before landing at the forest that led to Night Raid's HQ. As he laid his fallen comrade down on the ground, Tatsumi finally showed some emotion when he smiled as he summoned another chess piece, a bishop, into his hand._

"_I don't care if I use up all my Evil Pieces anymore…" he told himself, remembering Sheele, Bulat and Chelsea when they died. "You're all my friends anyway… and you're all strong in my eyes. Trust me, you'll only become even stronger in the future. In time, Lubbock, maybe we can go talk about perverted stuff like you used to, ya idiot."_

**Incursio's **_armor dematerialized, leaving only a smiling Tatsumi as he pushed the bishop into Lubbock's chest slowly. "Wouldn't that be nice, Lubbock?" he grinned as he began to utter some words underneath his breath…_

* * *

_Tatsumi was speechless as tears flowed out of his eyes. Mine had just confessed to him before dying in his arms, sharing a kiss with her final breath. Her life force was drained significantly after their encounter with General Budo, and it was enough to seal her fate._

"_M-Mine…" he continued to stare into the empty area before him, feeling a piece of his heart break with Mine's death. "Y-You…"_

_Regaining his composure, he quickly laid her down and checked his pocket for something. Feeling nothing, Tatsumi's expression turned into one that showed panic as he held out his hand to summon another piece._

"_Hang on, Mine! I'll bring you back even if it's the last thing I do!" A bishop piece appeared on his palm, before he pushed it towards Mine's chest as her body glowed. "I don't care if I waste my pieces! I know to myself that I made the right choice with bringing all of you back! And it's not just because you are very dear to me!" Tatsumi punched the ground as tears continued to stream down his cheeks, before looking up at Mine again._

"_It's because you all deserve a second chance at life after all this."_

_Mine's body slowly floated into the air as two batlike wings sprouted from her back._

* * *

_Just when Wave was about to carry Kurome's body away, Tatsumi's eyes began to glow into the color orange as he began to emit a terrifying aura. Wave suddenly stopped in his tracks as his eyes widened, before dropping Kurome to the ground as he collapsed himself._

_Tatsumi's eyes went back to normal as he looked at the unconscious Akame in his arms; she just went through a duel against her little sister, which ended with her victory and Kurome's death. She had begun to cry after that, before falling unconscious, and that was when Wave arrived in an attempt to rescue Kurome._

_But he was too late._

"_She didn't mean to kill her sister," Tatsumi spoke, letting Akame rest on the ground before walking towards Kurome with a concerned expression on his face. "One of them had to kill the other, because they knew there was no going back… I think this is how it's going down… when we finally charge at the capital…" He stopped where Wave dropped Kurome, as he moved the user of _**Grand Chariot **_to the side._

_He held out his hand and a new chess piece appeared on his palm._

_A knight piece._

"_Hey, Kurome…" he said with a soft smile, letting the knight piece push into her chest. "I know we don't know each other very much, but… I hope we can get along." Kurome's body began to glow just like his other friends who all died, before slowly floating into the air. "Let's get along… for the sake of your sister. She's been through so much…" he sent a sad glance towards the unconscious Akame not very far._

_A pair of batlike wings sprouted from Kurome's back, just as he reached out towards her body with his right arm. "You'll still be able to spar with your sister if you want… and be able to eat all the candies you want. I'll be seeing you soon, Kurome."_

_He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, before opening them again as he began to speak in a loud voice._

"_**I, Tatsumi Raum…"**_

* * *

_Tatsumi had to act fast. Akame and Esdeath finally ended their battle, with the wielder of _**Murasame **_coming out victorious. However, her use of the teigu's trump card also meant a death flag for her, and now both women were nearing death._

_He managed to stay alive during this whole onslaught, even surviving his encounter against the Emperor and his gigantic teigu, the _**Shikoutazer**, _in order to save innocent civilians. Despite the injuries he sustained, Tatsumi was able to miraculously recover and thus, he quickly made his way to where he sensed another big battle taking place._

_By the time he got there, Akame was already coughing up blood, only using _**Murasame **_to stay upright while Esdeath was barely clinging to life, the cursed marks quickly spreading throughout her body. He quickly summoned two new chess pieces into his hand and headed for Esdeath first._

_Esdeath slowly turned her head to the set of footsteps that she was hearing, but her vision was already becoming too blurry for her to make out who it was. All she could see was the large patch of brown hair before collapsing, with her ice starting to cover her entire body._

"_Tatsumi…" she muttered, drawing her last breath._

"Shit! That ice will prevent me from resurrecting her! I need to act quick!" _Tatsumi thought, holding out one of the pieces that he had with him, pushing it into her chest to begin the process and hopefully stop whatever her own ice was doing to her._

_Tatsumi sighed out of relief when the ice stopped covering Esdeath's body, before she began to glow and float up into the air._

"_I know you were once an enemy to us, but I believe you can change. I'll be looking forward to the next time we meet… Esdeath." he watched with a small smile as the familiar pair of batlike wings sprouted from her back, while remembering all the moments him and Esdeath had spent together during their short and tragic lives._

_Seeing that Esdeath was already taken care of, Tatsumi immediately turned towards Akame and saw that she already lost strength to even support herself with her sword, causing her to fall to the ground, having her final moments of life._

_He rushed towards her and knelt beside her now-frail body, wrapping his arms around her as he let his hand stroke her beautiful raven hair. Instead of mourning, he would cherish Akame's last moments, knowing that this wasn't really the end._

"_Akame? I'm here."_

_Like Esdeath, her vision was blurry, and she couldn't even notice the person who wrapped their arms around her slim body. However, she did notice those bright emerald orbs that she was staring directly into, and she could only smile as she slowly lost the life in her._

"_Tat-sumi…" she slowly mumbled, putting in every last bit of her strength in her arm to raise it towards his cheek and stroked it gently. Tatsumi had to hold back a tear as he heard her last words._

"_I… l-love…"_

_And just like that, the strength in her arm faded away as she stared into the sky, signifying the death of Night Raid's most notorious assassin._

_Tatsumi took a deep breath and used two of her fingers to close her eyes, before setting her down on the ground carefully. "Don't worry, Akame… you can tell me whatever it is you wanted to tell me sometime soon." He smiled sadly as he held out his other piece, a knight, and pushed into her chest. Despite going through this over and over, nothing hurt Tatsumi more than losing another important person in her life._

_Steeling himself, he stood up and held out his arm towards Akame's body, as the girl began to glow and float into the air, with the familiar pair of batlike wings appearing on her back with his words._

"_**I, Tatsumi Raum, hereby reincarnate you as a devil and as my servant! Become my knight of Raum!"**_

* * *

_Now there was one left._

_The last he heard of Leone, she was dealing with Honest himself, despite the danger of going alone._

_Tatsumi spent nearly the whole afternoon trying to search for Leone, and it was only when he saw her in a dark alley, leaning against the wall while holding a bottle of alcohol in her hand._

_He approached her slowly and called out to her softly. "Leone?"_

_Leone turned her head slowly to face him, her eyes looking like they lost all signs of life, yet she was still able to form a smile on her face as she saw her friend, comrade and, somehow, the man whom she had developing feelings for. Her appearance had altered greatly, as a result of her fusing with her own teigu, giving her a more lion-like appearance. She weakly raised her other arm and waved it for a few times._

"_Hey, Tatsumi."_

_Tatsumi smiled at seeing her continuing to push on despite her dying state._

"_What are you doing in this alley alone, you idiot? I was looking all over for you."_

_She laughed weakly and looked at the empty space in front of her, before looking back at him._

"_Care to drink with me?" she asked, raising the bottle of alcohol up for him._

_He smiled and nodded, sitting across her as she handed the bottle to him._

"_If you've been looking for me… then you must know what happened to Akame." she told him as she watched Tatsumi drink a bit from the bottle, before handing it back to him._

"_She's in a better place now, free from all this bloodshed." he answered in an honest tone, internally smiling because he knew that his words were true._

"_I see…" she said sadly, taking her own sip from the bottle. If she could, Leone wanted to cry at the loss of one of her closest friends in Night Raid, but she couldn't find herself able to do so._

"_Is that all you want to ask?" he said, looking to the side._

"_So… we won, right?"_

"_Do you really need to ask that?" he raised an eyebrow, wondering why she had to ask such a question when she already knew the answer._

"_I know to myself that we won… but at what cost?"_

_Tatsumi smiled sadly, although he knew that he had changed their fates, it was still sorrowful to remember that they died. If he never had his Evil Pieces, or if he was just a low-class, he would've never been able to bring his friends back._

_He could consider himself extremely lucky to be able to bestow a second chance upon them._

"_Cost? Well…" he began, looking down on the ground. "All of us assassins knew the risks of going on this dark path, right? We kept on moving forward, even though any of us could die at any time and in the end, we did succeed but… we lost those who were dear to us."_

"_Yeah… I guess you're right…" Leone looked at the wound she sustained after getting shot by Honest, breathing heavily afterwards. "Do… do you think it could've been avoided, Tatsumi? Our friends… their deaths… do you think… we could've saved them?"_

"_Leone… I personally think we could." He sighed heavily and remembered how his friends in Night Raid each lost their lives. "I think we could have saved them, if we were on time, and if we had learned when to run away. Don't you think so, Leone?"_

_He looked up, only to see that the blonde _**Lionelle **_user leaned against the wall and finally stopped breathing, the bottle of alcohol rolling off of her hand._

"_I see…" He stood up and held his forehead, trying his damn best to prevent himself from shedding tears. However, it was hard because he already had to say goodbye to two others earlier, and now Leone. His fists clenched tightly, resisting the urge to cry. "You're dead now…"_

"No! I refuse to cry! Not anymore!" _he thought to himself, shaking his head. _"I can still bring her back, just like everyone else, remember? They're all okay, Leone will be okay too! They're all strong, they're all my friends, and they all deserve a second chance at life! Away from this dark path!"

_He held out his arm, summoning a rook piece into his palm. "Leone… you'd make a good youkai in my peerage…" He used his other arm to rub the back of his head in embarrassment. "I don't know what kind of youkai you are though… maybe a nekomata? Since you're… a cat…" He then laughed at his own remark, completely forgetting his urge to cry earlier. "I'll have to talk with my teachers about this… I don't know what kind of youkai you are, I'm sorry."_

_Thus, he began to chant:_

"_**I, Tatsumi Raum, hereby reincarnate you as a devil and as my servant! Become my rook of Raum!"**_

_The rook piece went inside Leone's chest as she began to hover in the air, before glowing brightly. The two batlike wings sprouted out of her back, just as she stopped to glow. However, with a simple hand gesture from Tatsumi, a black magic circle appeared beside him before he turned his attention back towards Leone._

"_I'll see you in several hundred years, Leone." he said with a smile, just as Leone's body went through the magic circle._

* * *

_**A few notes:**_

_**Tatsumi will be replacing Rias in this fanfic, but don't worry, it's not like she doesn't exist. She is simply in another town, while Tatsumi and Sona are both in control of Kuoh. You'll still see her sometimes, and perhaps, I'll have her peerage fight against Tatsumi's in a rating game.**_

_**Before you ask, yes, Issei does exist here. He is sticking with Rias, developing off story. Yes, he is still the Red Dragon Emperor.**_

_**Tatsumi's clan is the Raum; in demonology, Raum is depicted as a crow that turns into a human. This is intentional as a way to pay homage to the world of Akame ga Kill. Plus, Raum's characteristics fit Tatsumi perfectly if you do a little research.**_

_**To those who will be asking, yes, this is a harem fanfic. Obviously, his harem will be consisted of the AGK girls but there might be some DxD girls included.**_

_**Tatsumi is a pervert, but not as extreme as Issei. You can't have Highschool DxD without perverseness!**_

_**Sacred Gears are basically more evolved versions of teigus, but the team's teigus could still be as powerful as them SG with the help of some training. For the destroyed ones like Pumpkin and Crosstail, don't worry. I have something planned for them. In Leone's case, you'll find out next chapter along with what is Tatsumi's sacred gear and a few other things.**_

_**Can you guess Tatsumi's whole peerage just from this chapter? The one who gets it correct gets a cookie!**_

_**Goodbye… and good night! BANG! *too sweet gesture***_

_**-Lance**_


	2. Rise and Shine!

**(Year 2012; Kuoh)**

Mine opened her eyes slowly, feeling sunlight shining directly upon her face. "Mmm, who the hell left my window open…" she mumbled before yawning deeply, stretching her limbs out as she finally sat up. However, as she ran her hand along her pink locks, it began to hit her.

"Wait a second…" she mumbled to herself, touching various parts of her body in order to confirm her suspicions. _"What the hell?! Aren't I supposed to be —?!"_

With eyes full of disbelief, she began to look around her, quickly noticing that this was nothing like her room at Night Raid HQ; this room was way bigger, it had… a bigger window? Seriously, the bedroom looked like it could register as a living room but what shocked the pinkette the most were the people who were still deep in their sleep.

On the same master bed where she was, there was Sheele, Leone, Chelsea, Akame, her sister Kurome and lastly, former General Esdeath. Her jaw fell open at the other women sleeping on the same bed where she was, until she noticed the two men sleeping on either side of the bed using sleeping mats.

Lubbock was hugging a small pillow snoring audibly, while on the other side, Bulat was simply leaning on his arms behind his head as he slept peacefully.

_Woah, woah, woah, wait!_

Mine's thoughts were going in circles now. Wasn't Sheele supposed to be dead?! Mine was with her during the mission where she was killed! The same goes for Bulat as well! As far as she could remember, Tatsumi brought his dead body back to HQ, so why was the big guy sleeping here?! Another was Chelsea! She remembered how horrified Tatsumi was when he saw Chelsea dying and most importantly…

_WHY WAS SHE HERE?!_

On top of all of that, this place was completely different to her room at the Night Raid HQ, which could only mean that she was somewhere else. She didn't even notice the strange new clothes she and the others were wearing. Unable to process her thoughts properly, she decided to do the most logical thing to do at the moment.

"WHERE THE HELL AM I?!"

Akame immediately jolted awake after hearing Mine's loud scream, sitting up like a robot before turning her head towards the pinkette. Esdeath too, yawned and sat up, woken up by a scream that she just heard. She was a well-known morning person back in the Empire, always looking forward to train herself and her soldiers, as well as taking chances to see if someone could be tortured for her amusement.

And right there, Akame and Esdeath's gazes met; they haven't forgotten each other, and they could still very well remember their battle in the capital.

Upon instinct, Akame jumped off the bed and got into a fighting stance, while Esdeath simply narrowed her eyes at the raven-haired girl.

"Esdeath," Akame spat out in cold blood.

"Akame," Esdeath replied with the same cold tone.

"I thought I had finished you off, but it seems that my mission is still not over." Akame continued, unaware of the fact that she didn't even have any weapon in her hands to be able to fight.

"You are going to fight me bare-handed? Why not, I welcome a good challenge from a worthy opponent." Esdeath smirked, preparing to use her ice magic.

"COULD YOU TWO PLEASE TRY NOT TO FIGHT RIGHT NOW?!" the same loud voice from earlier stopped them from going any further, as they turned their heads to where it was coming from.

"Mine?" Akame asked, confused as to why her comrade was here with her. Isn't she supposed to be dead?

Esdeath's smirk widened. "Ah, the pink-haired sniper… it looks like a great day for the Jäegers today… I get to clean up two criminals… yes, a wonderful day indeed…"

"Look, I don't care what's going on in your minds right now, but you two need to look around and please, _please_, tell me this is just a dream!" Mine said out of desperation, as this was creeping her out. If this was just a dream, she wanted nothing more than to wake up then.

Choosing her comrade over the enemy, Akame complied and indeed took a look at her surroundings. Strange, this place didn't look anything like HQ… not even the walls, the floor, nor the bed could say that they were in Night Raid's headquarters.

Her curiosity now taking over, Akame looked at the people on the bed, finding herself becoming more and more confused upon noticing just who were the people sleeping on it. That was until, her eyes settled on a particular girl who was already awake and yawning tiredly.

"K-Kurome…" Akame said as her eyes widened in shock, seeing her sister alive and well.

Hearing her name being called, Kurome turned her head towards her sister and blinked a few times. "Big sis," she simply said without emotion.

Noticing the shocked look on Akame's face, Esdeath stopped observing her surroundings for a moment and had a good look at the little girl before her.

"Well, well, if it isn't Kurome…" Esdeath smirked evilly and crossed her arms under her bust. "What a surprise finding you here… the last I've heard about you, Wave said you were dead." The smirk on her face remained for a few seconds before she slowly realized her own words, her mouth dropping open afterwards.

Kurome turned her head once again, facing Esdeath with the same emotionless look. "General?" she asked in a quiet tone, her memories before her death slowly coming back to her. Kurome's eyes widened for a moment before she looked at her hand.

"I… died…" she mumbled, now becoming confused over what's going on alongside her sister, Esdeath, and Mine. "But how…"

"Why are you here? I killed you! I know I did!" Akame said with eyes full of disbelief, unable to accept the fact that her own sister was just in front of her.

"So it was Akame who killed you… I guess that makes her an even more worthy opponent." Esdeath smirked again, snapping out of her temporary trance so she could look at the shocked expression on Akame's face.

Leone growled and sat up with a tick mark appearing on her head. "Okay, that's the last straw! Lubbock, if you don't shut your ass up, I'll—!" she was about to raise her fist when she suddenly noticed the green-haired pervert wasn't anywhere. "What the—?" she blurted out upon noticing that this place wasn't anything like their hideout.

That was when she noticed Esdeath, Kurome, Akame, and even Mine around her, all sharing looks of confusion and curiosity. Leone blinked a few times before rubbing her eyes. "Am I still asleep or something? Esdeath is here, Mine and Akame too… and Kurome?" Leone asked herself, finding herself in the presence of four other people whom she knows are already dead. Looking down at her own self, she noticed that she wasn't covered in fur anymore.

"Woah, what the heck?! I'm me again!" As far as she could remember, she fused with her teigu and she had an appearance similar to a lion's before she died, so why was she back to her old self?!

"Urgh, can't you keep it down? I'm trying to sleep…" Chelsea groaned and shifted in bed for a few times before sitting up as well, with her hair covering her face. Her bedhead look made her seem all the more adorable, and managed to go well with her purple shirt and orange pajamas. "Now… tell me what's going on so I can, yawn go back to sleep…"

She waited for someone to answer, but nobody bothered to, causing Chelsea to get irritated. Her eyes glowed red in anger, with her hair finally giving way for her to see around.

"How dare you ignore me! I'm trying to ask a question here!" she growled, before her eyes fell on Leone, who was sitting across from her with a confused look on her face. "L-Leone?" she asked, her eyebrows furrowed in confusion as well.

"Hey… C-Chelsea…" Leone waved her hand weakly, looking as if she was about to go insane at any moment. She weakly pointed at the auburn-haired girl this time, "Y-You… aren't you…"

And just like that, images of Kurome with her three puppets flowed through Chelsea's mind, seeing the last moments of her life in her mind, succumbing to the fatal wounds she had sustained that time. Her eyes widened in fear as she held her head, feeling dizzy upon remembering a disturbing memory.

"I… d-died…" she muttered, looking down on the bed with eyes full of horror, completely different from her usual demeanor. "Then how —" Chelsea cut herself off from her own sentence when she took notice of the girl sitting near the edge of the bed, who turned her head to face her.

"Kurome!" Chelsea quickly reacted, glaring at the younger girl, who simply tilted her head in confusion. "Stay back or I'll kill you!"

"Chelsea!" Mine called out, looking more confused and weirded out than ever.

At the mention of her name, Chelsea turned her head and locked eyes with the pinkette. As she did so, she also caught the sight of Esdeath with a confused look, and it caused Chelsea to shake her head in desperation. Okay, what was going on here? Not only Kurome, but Esdeath as well? They were their enemies, so why were they here? In the same bed with them as well!

"Mine… what's going on here?" she asked, now noticing Akame standing near the bed and a purple-haired girl sleeping beside her, whom she could only deduce as Sheele, based from what she could remember when she was "still" alive. "Two of out enemies are in here, with us! And I'm supposed to be dead, because I remember it clearly! The mission, Kurome, everything!"

"I don't know!" Mine had both her hands on her head, unable to make out what exactly was happening right now. "I'm supposed to be dead too! But here we are, somehow alive! And I don't even know where we are, it doesn't look like our HQ in any way! Please tell me this is just a dream!"

"Mine, I don't think this is a dream at all." Leone said, slowly turning towards the pinkette with the same amount of confusion plastered on her face. "If you were dead, then how can you even dream? Plus, I think we all have the same idea as yours." Mine's eyes widened even more. "Which means there's only one explanation for this."

"You're alive and well."

"But how?! I remember kiss —" Mine suddenly blushed, recalling how she spent her last moments with Tatsumi, ending with her confession and the kiss she shared with him. "A-Anyway, I do remember dying! It was after we dealt with General Budo! Pumpkin got destroyed that time too, believe me!"

"You fought with that old geezer?" Esdeath asked suspiciously, raising an eyebrow at the pink-haired sniper.

Mine remained silent, unable to answer since she was in no condition to start a battle.

"Hahahahaha! I always knew he was weak." Esdeath laughed, causing the other women who were already awake (except Kurome) to groan at her usual antics. They should be focusing on finding out where they were, damn it!

"Esdeath, can you stop with your games for once and focus at the situation right now?" Akame threatened, narrowing her eyes at the blue-haired woman. "I know I killed you, and don't even deny it. But somehow, you are here with us, who are all supposed to be dead as well! Are we in the palace by some chance, Esdeath? You would know, won't you?" She had learned just earlier from Leone that she also died, right after they won the war against the Empire.

"Who are you to order me?" Esdeath's tone became cold as she crossed her arms, sending a glare towards Akame. The two locked eyes for the next few moments, gaining the attention of the other girls at how intense their gazes were.

Surprisingly, it was Esdeath who gave in; she closed her eyes and sighed before speaking. "Fine. I'll only answer once since we're experiencing the same dilemma. You think we're in the palace, Akame? We're not. This room is too different from any room in the palace. I don't even think that we're in the capital at this moment. As far as I recall, the Revolutionary Army won the war against the Empire anyway."

"Then where do you think are we?" Akame asked, taking another look at this strange room that she was in.

"Ah ah, I only said I'll answer once. You're on your own now." Esdeath waved her finger in front of her.

"You bitch…" Akame glared, and Esdeath only smirked in response.

"This is going nowhere…" Leone shook her head before sighing heavily in frustration. "Anyway, the question right now is how the hell are we alive… where we are can be answered later. We could have been somewhere worse, right?"

"Yeah…" Chelsea agreed, taking a few deep breaths to calm herself down. Seeing Kurome again brought back horrible memories for her, but it wasn't the right time for dwelling in the past. "I know I died, and it seems like all of you died too… but how are we alive? Are we being experimented on or something?"

"I don't think so," Esdeath remarked before turning to her former subordinate. "Kurome, was this your doing? Did you turn us into your puppets with your teigu?"

Kurome turned towards Esdeath and shook her head. "No, General. I died in my fight with Big sis, so I couldn't have turned any of you into my dolls."

"Oh, you are right. How silly of me," Esdeath chuckled slightly, before shaking her head in amusement. "It seems this huge revelation is still affecting my state of mind somehow… but at the very least, we know that our _apparent _resurrection from the dead is done by another. That person must have used other means to do so, since there is no such teigu that can bring back the dead. Even if we are brought back as Kurome's puppets, we'd obey her orders but it looks like that scenario is impossible to happen since she died."

Mine was about to respond, only for her eyes to widen again when the purple-haired **Extase **user finally stir awoke, sitting up with her locks getting in her face during her sleep. She started to feel around her for her glasses and luckily, they were just beside her pillow.

Putting her glasses on, she brushed her hair off her face and yawned, before turning her head to the side, immediately noticing Mine instead of Esdeath. "Good morning, Mine." she greeted as if nothing happened to her at all.

"M-Morning…" the pinkette muttered; although she was thoroughly confused with their situation right now, a part of her couldn't help but be happy because Sheele was back. And it wasn't a fluke! If they were alive, then Sheele as well!

"Why is it so loud early in the morning, damn it…" Lubbock sat up from his sleeping mat, while rubbing the top of his head. He turned his head to the right, only to be met with the cold blue eyes of Esdeath. "Uh… uhm… h-hi?" His fear getting the better of himself right now, he began sweating in fear.

Esdeath could sense the fear in him, and she decided to have some fun in light of what was happening right now. "Why, hello there…" she said with a dark smirk, while also releasing some of her aura.

Lubbock could only gulp in fear, only for someone to come to rescue his ass.

"Hey, Lubbock! Good thing you're awake!" Gaining his attention, he turned his head towards Mine, who seemed to have somewhat of a relieved look on her face. "We don't need you scaring anyone here Esdeath, so it's better if you stop with that." She flashed a sour look at the blue-haired general, who only shrugged carelessly.

"Mine… is that you?" he asked, furrowing his eyebrows.

"Of course, who else could it be, you idiot?" Mine crossed her arms and huffed, not liking the fact that Lubbock didn't know it was already her.

He put his hand on his forehead, feeling a mild headache take over him. "Sorry, I… I'm starting to remember something… I'm trying to make out what it is, hold on…" With that, he began to remember… when he was fighting against somebody from the Empire… Syura, was it? Then he teleported somewhere, and then he was falling from the sky, and then…

"OH GOD!" he screamed all of a sudden, now aware of what became of him during the last moments of his life. Lubbock had to resist the urge to vomit just at the thought of his own death. He quickly turned back towards Mine with a dumbfounded expression on his face. "MINE, I ‒" before he could say anything else, the pinkette already raised her hand to stop him from speaking.

"I know. You died, I know." When she noticed he was about to ask something, Mine pointed to the other women on the bed. "It sounds crazy… everyone here remembers that they died, yet here we are inside this room, including Esdeath and Akame's sister, all alive and well. And we have no idea how we were brought back here!"

With Mine's words, he started to slowly forget about his earlier thoughts as he tried to think of an explanation to all of this. "It couldn't have been a teigu then… it's impossible to bring people back from the dead with just a teigu. This sounds really unlikely to believe, it would be defying death itself! I almost thought I was just dreaming!"

"Esdeath said the same thing, and believe me, I almost thought the same as you…" Mine sighed, looking to the side. "I just want to know how we are all still alive, and where are ‒"

"AAAAAAAAGGGGGHHHHHHH!"

One lone scream was enough to prevent Mine from speaking any further as she quickly had her hands covering her ears due to how loud that damn screamwas. Where did it come from anyway?!

Esdeath, Lubbock, and all the other women had their hands covering their ears as well, no thanks to that ear-splitting scream that was still going on.

A few seconds later, the damn scream finally stopped and everyone removed their hands from their ears. Mine was about to lash out at whoever tried to rip her eardrums out, but she was already beaten to it.

"BULAT, YOU FUCKIN' IDIOT! YOU COULD HAVE DESTROYED MY EARS!" Leone shrieked, a tick mark appearing on her head before smacking the bigger guy on the back of his neck. "IF YOU CAN'T REMEMBER, MY HEARING IS ENHANCED BY **LIONELLE**!

Bulat, who was already sitting up from his sleeping mat, was starting to shed anime tears at being smacked by Leone. He woke up a few moments after Lubbock did, and like his green-haired friend, he remembered the last moments of his life; when him and Tatsumi were at the Dragon Ship, fighting his former superior, which eventually led to his death.

That was when Leone took his attention and began to explain what their situation was, about how all the people inside this room was already dead, yet somehow became alive right now. That alone was enough for Bulat to reach his critical point as he screamed loudly, much akin to that of a girl, unaware that he was actually causing harm to the others around him.

"I-I'm sorry…" he cried, causing Leone and Chelsea to deadpan.

"Is this guy supposed to be the one feared by many in the capital?" Chelsea muttered.

"Yeah…" Leone replied.

Prying her eyes off of the crying Bulat, she noticed that Lubbock was already awake behind her. "Oh, would you look at that? You're already up, Lubbock. Do you need an explanation for what's going on?" she asked sweetly.

"N-No thanks… Mine already explained everything to me…" Lubbock sweat-dropped, not wanting another explanation. He didn't want to literally vomit if he remembers his death again.

"Well, that makes this easier doesn't it? Now we just have to figure out‒"

The sound of the door opening cut off Leone from her words, getting everyone's attention. Out of instinct, Akame turned around and quickly got into a defensive stance, preparing herself if it was a threat. Esdeath prepared to fire icicles if it was the person who imprisoned them here, and she could torture him afterwards so they could have information on what was going on with them at the moment. The others simply put on a serious face, not in the mood to fight since they had more questions to be answered than that.

A man of average height walked into the room with his hands in his pockets. Nearly all of them raised an eyebrow in curiosity at who could it be, since the dim setting of the room prevented them from knowing. That, and well, the sun was just starting to rise.

As soon as they could finally see him, their eyes widened in shock. He was wearing a black blazer over a white, long-sleeved dress shirt with black highlights and a black ribbon on the collar, matching black pants, and brown dress shoes. He was also wearing a blue t-shirt underneath his open dress shirt and blazer, highlighted by the smile that formed on his face.

"T-Tatsumi…" Leone muttered in shock.

Tatsumi stopped just in front of Akame and looked at all of his comrades in Night Raid, as well as Esdeath and Kurome, before he flashed the grin that they were all accustomed to seeing back then.

"Morning, everyone. Did you all have a good sleep?" he asked happily.

* * *

_**I guess this should be enough for the second chapter. Sorry if you were expecting the answers here, but my mom is about to take the laptop away for the night. I'll continue this through my phone, so once she gets home tomorrow, I can continue on with the next chapter and possibly be able to update it.**_

_**Looks like one fella got it right already! TheFreezerStreets, here's your cookie: **_?

_**To make it easier, here is Tatsumi's peerage!**_

_**King: Tatsumi**_

_**Queen: Esdeath**_

_**Knight: Akame**_

_**Knight: Kurome**_

_**Rook: Bulat**_

_**Rook: Leone**_

_**Bishop: Lubbock**_

_**Bishop: Mine**_

_**Pawn (4x): Sheele**_

_**Pawn (4x): Chelsea**_

_**Goodbye… and good night! BANG!**_

_**-Lance**_


	3. Dropping the Bomb

_**Disclaimer: I don't own Akame ga kill, Highschool DxD or any of its characters...**_

* * *

For the next few moments, nobody answered Tatsumi's question, causing the smile on his face to slowly drop.

"Uh, is something wrong? I'd have thought you'll have a proper sleep in that bed…" he said, scratching his head nervously, afraid that he might have scared them to death or something.

"Tatsumi, thank God!" Mine cried out, looking relieved that another one of their comrades was here with them, and it looked like he had an idea on where they were! However, for some reason, they could feel their heads starting to hurt at the mention of "God" in Mine's sentence.

"Do you have an idea on what's going on here?" she continued with her eyes full of worry. "I'm sure you know, all of us here are —"

"Dead, I know. You don't need to remind me, please." he cut her off, raising his hand so that he could freely speak. "This all looks really confusing, but every single one of your questions right now will be answered, I promise."

"Wait, so you know where the hell are we?" Leone asked, hoping that he indeed had a clue on what this place was.

He smiled. "Yeah, you're in my house."

Silence followed afterwards.

"House?" Lubbock questioned, as he couldn't help but feel there was something missing from Tatsumi's answer.

"Yeah, we're all in my house." he nodded once again, confirming his earlier statement. "This is actually my room, and the girls are all sleeping in my bed. Those sleeping mats Lubbock and Aniki were using stored inside that cabinet over there." He pointed to a medium-sized cabinet near the door, next to several other cabinets and a wardrobe. "Since I figured the girls won't be comfortable sleeping around with them, I brought those mats out so Lubbock and Aniki can still sleep here. And then I was —"

"Wait, wait, hold up. What are you rambling on about?" Chelsea asked as she crossed her arms under her chest, while also bearing a confused look on her face.

"Uh… explaining what happened last night?" he replied, smiling awkwardly after. When he noticed that Chelsea wasn't reacting to his answer at all, he continued on with his words.

"Anyway, as I was saying, after I brought those sleeping mats out for those two, I slept with you girls there." His words then caused all of the girls to blush while Lubbock jaw-dropped, as Tatsumi rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment, before pointing towards the bed where all the girls were. "Well, I woke up way earlier before all of you so—" he was cut off when a pillow was suddenly thrown to his face by a fuming pink-haired sniper, causing him to fall over.

"YOU PERVERT!" Mine yelled out, covering her body with her arms as she flashed a disgusted look at Tatsumi. "YOU JUST WANTED TO COP A FEEL, DIDN'T YOU?!"

However, the other girls all had varying reactions to what had just been revealed to them. "Oh my, how come I didn't feel his body while he was snuggling with us earlier?" Esdeath asked playfully, a cute blush appearing on her face as she pictured herself with Tatsumi in bed. "If I had felt him, I could've wrapped my arms around his body and hugged him close."

"Well, well, well, looks like you finally grew some balls there, Tatsumi. Did you feel good while sleeping with a bunch of beautiful women?" Chelsea teased, causing Lubbock to have a massive nosebleed while falling back into his sleeping mat.

"Ano… why was Tatsumi sleeping with us?" Sheele asked, scratching her head in confusion.

"Pervert," Kurome said without any hint of emotion.

Bulat didn't say anything, as he simply gave a huge grin and a thumbs-up to his partner to show that he was proud of him.

Out of all of them though, it was only Akame who knelt down and helped Tatsumi back to his feet. "Are you okay?" she asked, putting the pillow that was thrown to him earlier back on the bed.

"Yeah, I'm all good." he quickly nodded and turned his attention to Mine, giving her a curious look. "Mine, to be frank, you girls are all in my bed, so… doesn't that mean I can sleep there whenever I want?"

When Mine felt all the attention in the room shifting towards her, she looked down with a deep blush on her face. "S-Shut up! B-Besides…" she looked up again, trying her best to resist her embarrassment by flashing a serious expression at Tatsumi, which only worked slightly. "How do we know this is really your room?" she asked him with narrowed eyes.

He raised an eyebrow. "You're going to ask me that? I thought you'd go for something that suits the situation right now, like how are you all alive."

Just as he hoped, his last statement got their full attention, causing him to smirk to himself.

"Tatsumi, do you have an idea why are we all alive and gathered here in this place?" Akame asked in a serious tone. She was really confused why she was still here in the world, as she could clearly remember dying because of the activation **Murasame's** trump card.

Surprisingly, Leone was all serious compared to her usual self. "Mine, your tsundere attitude can wait later, we need answers on how we are all brought back to life." The pinkette could still be heard blabbering something like "I am not a tsundere!" but no one paid any attention to her, since all eyes in the room were once again turned towards Tatsumi.

"All right Tatsumi, since you have the answers to our situation right now, let's hear it." Leone crossed her arms and waited for him to spill the beans.

However, Tatsumi was quite surprised with this. It was only rare for Leone to take a situation seriously, because she would rather look at the bright side of things (except for assassinating targets) than act like the big sister she should be.

"I'm surprised you're taking this seriously, Leone… earlier you weren't teasing me about sleeping with you girls nor were you making a joke out of it." he said with an amused smirk, which only caused the blonde-haired woman to flash one of her own.

"This situation is too big for me not to take it seriously. Not only am I brought back from the dead somehow, I'm also back to my original appearance, which is weird because I remember fusing with **Lionelle** when I dealt with Honest. You're also acting suspicious as well… wasn't your village a poor one? Yet this looks too big for a bedroom, much less your house."

Leone's smirk grew wider when Tatsumi froze a moment, knowing she caught on to his act.

Deciding to point out a few more details, she continued with her words. "Plus, these clothes we're all wearing doesn't look anything like the ones we wore in HQ." With those words, everyone else started to look at their clothes, noticing that Leone was right. They were all wearing clothes different to their normal ones, and even though they were sleepwear, they didn't even recognize it since they never had clothes like these.

"Hm, you're more perceptive than I thought, Leone." he remarked, smiling in amusement as he closed her eyes.

"I know I'm awesome." Leone replied, smiling in return before smashing her fist into her palm. "Now are you gonna give us some answers? Or do I have to resort to beating them out of you?"

Esdeath smirked at Leone's declaration before speaking up. "Hm, why don't you let me help you on that? We may be enemies but this situation we are in is indeed making me confused. I think my skills in interrogating would bring out the answers out of cute little Tatsumi…" she said in a playful yet creepy tone that sent chills to everyone there.

Leone ignored her.

"Alright, alright!" Tatsumi waved his arms to show that he didn't want any kind of trouble. "I'll tell you all that you want to know, so come downstairs and join me for breakfast." With those words, he began walking out of the room.

Everyone was confused.

"What?" Mine asked him.

Tatsumi stopped by the door and looked back at them. "You want answers, right? Let's discuss this over breakfast downstairs. Oh, and please, while you're on the way there, try not to destroy this house, okay?" His lips then curled into a smirk. "Yes, I'm talking to you, Esdeath and Akame." Said girls widened their eyes slightly. "I know you two hate each other but this isn't the right time for a fight. You'll end up turning this place into another warzone…" After his last statement, he continued on his way, followed by the other people in the room who wanted answers from him.

Lubbock and Bulat left first, followed by Sheele and Kurome, and then Leone, only for her to stop and look at Esdeath. "I don't like the fact that one of the people who hunted us down is here with us right now, but for the sake of knowing what's going on, I'll stay my hand."

Esdeath looked unfazed as Leone continued on, before Chelsea stopped by her as well, while smiling sweetly. "I agree with Leone. So as long as you'll be a good general, let's be friends, okay?" Without even waiting for a proper answer, Chelsea followed Leone out of the room.

Esdeath chuckled in amusement as she watched them leave. "My, it seems that I'm an unwanted guest around here… although I don't find it my fault that I was brought back to life with all of you… I think I'll have fun while I am here with all the assassins of Night Raid." She then noticed somebody glaring at her, and turning her head, Mine was scowling at her as she walked off.

After nearly everyone had left, only Esdeath and Akame were the only ones remaining inside.

"Try anything and I won't hesitate to bury you quickly," Akame threatened, narrowing her eyes at her enemy.

"Threatening me without your famous sword is as insane as the fact that we are all somehow alive right now, little Akame." Esdeath smirked, getting off the bed and heading out of the room. "The only reason why you're still alive anyway, is because I want to know what is going on around here."

"That bitch…" Akame could only glare at Esdeath in anger as she too, followed shortly.

* * *

Not too long after that, Esdeath and Akame went downstairs to see the others were sitting around a large table, filled with different kinds of food, including pancakes, bacon and eggs, ham and sausages, white bread, waffles and a basket of fruits at the center of the table. There was also a cup of coffee for everyone, except for two cups that were hot chocolate instead. Tatsumi seemed to have noticed them, so he called them out. "Hey, you two! Come here and eat with us, you're the only ones missing!" he exclaimed with a smile on his face.

From where she was standing, Esdeath began to observe the food on the table, before thinking deeply to herself. "_Strange… I've never seen some of those foods in the palace… and yet they serve various delicacies each day."_ she thought to herself.

Akame, who was a few feet behind her, widened her eyes at the sight of many kinds of food on the table as she rushed past Esdeath and sat beside her sister, before beginning to eat whatever she could put in her mouth. Kurome was doing the same as well, being a glutton like her sister. Yep, these two were totally siblings.

Esdeath was soon brought out of her thoughts when Tatsumi spoke again.

"Oi, Esdeath! Aren't you gonna sit down? How can I explain without you hearing it as well?"

The blue-haired woman turned her attention towards the young man who called out to her. "_Tatsumi… he seems different than before too. Normally, he's all shy and flustered around me but he looks calmer now… does he even remember that we were enemies as well?"_ Making up her mind, she continued on her way to the table and sat down. "_I'll get back to this once I hear his 'explanation' then…"_

"So?" Mine asked, taking a sip of her coffee. "We're now all here, so are you gonna talk or not? Distracting us with food is not gonna work, except for maybe Akame and her sister." she said, glancing at the two gluttons who were too focused on the food.

Tatsumi took a deep breath and readjusted his seat. "Alright, but first… everything that you find out today stays within this house, okay? Everything that you hear from me is a secret between us. No one must know of this, or else there's gonna be trouble. Is that too much to ask?"

"No, that should be easy. After all, all of you except for me and Kurome were all assassins, it shouldn't be hard to hide information." Esdeath said, although she was wondering why should it be a secret.

He took another deep breath, feeling a weight being lifted off his chest. "Alright then… this is gonna be really weird to explain… so I'd advise you all to keep an open mind. Some of you may even think I'm crazy, but please keep the questions down until I finish."

Esdeath laughed and shook her head in amusement. "Tatsumi, we live in a world filled with danger beasts and teigus that grant extraordinary powers, I don't think you need to tell us to keep an open mind, unless you're underestimating us." she said.

"Yeah, try us." Leone grinned mischievously, prepared for what sort of explanation Tatsumi will tell them.

"Fine, then. Don't say I didn't warn you." Tatsumi sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose afterwards. They didn't get him at all. He could just hope that they cope well with what he was about to reveal. "First off, do you guys believe in the supernatural?"

Silence emanated for the next few seconds.

All of their attention was turned towards Tatsumi, who was waiting patiently for their answer.

Even Akame and Kurome stopped eating to look at Tatsumi.

"Well?" he asked again, growing nervous since nobody was answering him.

And then… it was Chelsea who broke the silence.

"Tatsumi, did you even hear what that Esdeath and Leone said?" she asked in a sarcastic tone. "We live in a world where danger beasts are feared by people. There are people who wield teigus that hold magical powers, and that is what you ask us?"

"Just answer me, will you?" his tone of voice made it clear that he was serious.

Chelsea shrugged her shoulders. "Well, since you insist… yes and no." Tatsumi raised an eyebrow in confusion and she could only giggle at his reaction, before pulling a lollipop out of nowhere and popping it into her mouth. "Like I said earlier, there are people who wield teigus in this world, and I'm referring to us, and they could all use powers or pretty much everything out of the ordinary. But if you're talking about gods and other deities that are worshipped by other people? Then no, I don't believe in them. They're a bunch of made-up stories created by older people to me, but people can believe in what they want. That's just me, though. I don't know for the others here."

"It seems like we have the same thoughts." Esdeath showed off her smirk once again and crossed her arms, before staring at the young man at the end of the table. "I agree with this girl. Supernatural powers do exist in this world thanks to the teigus, but supernatural beings are nothing more than myths and legends."

Leone raised her hand as she gulped down a full glass of water. "Same here, there's no reason for me to believe or even pay attention to those kinds of stuff anyway."

"I'm with them, man." Lubbock shrugged his shoulders. _"I haven't seen Najenda yet… is she okay? I could ask Tatsumi if he knows where she is later on…"_ he thought to himself in slight worry.

"Same for me," said Bulat.

"I… guess?" Sheele put her finger on her chin, looking to be in deep thought.

"Mmm." Both Akame and Kurome moaned out, too focused on eating yet somehow managing to give their answers with a simple sound.

"Looks like all of us here have agreed on one answer then," Mine said as she crossed her arms. "Is that enough to answer your question, Tatsumi?"

He nodded slowly, not feeling that much surprised with their shared answer. "I see… well, I think… you'll find this story that I'm about to tell you to be quite interesting, so lend me your ears."

Everyone stared at him blankly, although they were listening as Tatsumi took a deep breath and began to speak:

"Thousands of years ago, a war between three factions of the supernatural world took place. Those factions were the Angels, the Fallen Angels, and the Devils. The reason why the war began remains unknown until this day. But as this war went on, it claimed a massive number of lives from each faction, as well as the lives of humans who had either chosen a side, or had been involved in the field of fire. The… God from the Bible saw the devastation this war brought to ordinary humans, and that they had no way to defend themselves against beings who are more powerful than they were. As a result of this, he created items as a blessing to humans to give them a chance to fight for themselves should he be unable to in their stead. Those items were called sacred gears, or more commonly known in our time as, teigus."

Everyone kept on staring at Tatsumi as he finished his little story, and in the end, none of them looked convinced with what he was trying to say.

Esdeath began to chuckle, before shaking her head in disappointment. "Tatsumi, Tatsumi… that tale sounds a little bit good as a bedtime story told to children before they sleep. But that's all it was, a bedtime story. Forgive me, I'm going to ask you… did you hit your head somewhere? Or did you forget that the teigus were created during the time of the First Emperor with a team of scientists?"

Tatsumi didn't look affected with her statement and in fact, he looked more serious than ever. "That's another thing, actually. The First Emperor was formerly an angel, an ally to Heaven by the time those teigus were created. He fell and turned into a fallen angel during the last days of his reign because he became power-hungry to the abilities brought by those teigus, or sacred gears. Why? Angels can turn into fallen angels once they have sinned greatly, and that's not a good thing."

"Tatsumi man, I don't want to make you angry or something, but this is starting to sound more and more like a children's story…" Lubbock muttered, not knowing if he should even listen to Tatsumi anymore.

Tatsumi turned towards Lubbock and gave him a look of concern, which made everyone else curious. "Please hold off your questions until I finish explaining, okay? It will make things easier if you just listen for now."

"Whatever you say…" Lubbock shrugged, although he was worried that his brother-in-arms might have gotten crazy or something.

"Thanks." Tatsumi turned his attention back towards all of them. "Now, I'm gonna be straight to the point like what you want. Yes, you all died. Those memories you've been seeing earlier were all true, and you really died. Sheele died during the battle against Seryu, Aniki against Liver, Mine against General Budo, and so on. But you're here right now, because I brought all of you back to life."

Finally, it was enough for the other people around the table to show another emotion as they looked at Tatsumi in shock.

"What?" Leone asked, unsure if she heard Tatsumi right, even though she had enhanced hearing.

Gaining more confidence in himself, he continued. "You all died, but I brought you back to life. I became a witness to all of your deaths, but I couldn't find it in myself to let go of any of you. That's why you're all here right now."

Bulat's expression turned into extreme worry as he began to sweat heavily. "T-Tatsumi… have you gone crazy or something? Y-You've got to be joking… right? Everything you're saying… is just a joke, right?"

Tatsumi only stayed silent, telling everyone what they needed to know.

Mine stood up from her seat and slammed her fists on the table in anger. "Tatsumi, we're not in the mood for your mind games! This is a serious matter, so stop with your lame jokes and tell us the truth!"

Akame glanced at the pinkette and began to speak for the first time since sitting down on the table to eat. "Mine, sit down and let Tatsumi explain. I think he's not done yet, so we should let him speak out everything he wants to tell us."

Mine pouted for a few seconds before sitting down, grumbling to herself about how she always gets ignored when it comes to things like this, causing Chelsea to send a small smirk at her direction.

Esdeath's gaze turned cold as she stared at Tatsumi. Sure, she was quite fond of the young man, but this wasn't a situation to be taken lightly and it seemed like only Tatsumi can provide them the answers they wanted.

"Tatsumi, where are we exactly? Can you give us the most direct and shortest answer, or I won't hesitate to squeeze it out of you." she warned, her eyes narrowing slightly.

"Fine then." he shrugged and closed his eyes. "You're in my house, which is located in the town of Kuoh, which can be found in the country of Japan."

Everyone's eyes started to widen at this.

"We're all in the year 2012, about 500 years after the Revolutionary Army took back the capital from the tyranny of the Emperor. Does that answer your question, Esdeath?" he turned towards the blue-haired woman with a small smirk gracing his lips.

The look of shock on Esdeath's face quickly turned back into a serious expression. "I would like some proof of your words before I even consider it, otherwise I'll be convinced that you are indeed out of your mind, Tatsumi. How can you be sure that… we are even at that point of time?"

Tatsumi easily took care of that little problem when he gently threw a roll of newspaper towards Esdeath's lap. "Take a look at the date there, and you'll see that my words are the real deal."

Esdeath did so, and her eyes could only widen when she saw the exact date written there, which was the 5th of September in the year 2012; the others only needed to see her expression to figure out that Tatsumi was telling the truth. Mine gasped, Leone, Chelsea, Akame, Kurome and Bulat were beyond shock, while Lubbock could only hope on what little chance there was left that Najenda was still okay.

Esdeath began to stutter, which could be considered something impossible for a feared general like her. "I-Impossible… 2012… how are we…?"

Tatsumi cut her off and looked at every corner of the room. "If that's not enough to convince you, just look around. Technology advanced greatly through the years, and from the Empire and the surrounding villages, more lands started to be claimed and slowly progressed, turning into the many countries that are on the map today. Heck, if you want, I can —" he suddenly stopped speaking when three icicles were aiming towards both of his eyes and his forehead.

Esdeath glared at him, while also breathing quite heavily. Mine was about to stand up from her seat again, but Bulat kept her at place as he shook his head."How can we trust you? For all we know, you've messed with our minds somehow to make us submit to you." Tatsumi remained calm in his place, looking unaffected.

Her glare became more intense. "For that, are you even the Tatsumi that I know? I've been watching you ever since we were upstairs, and you act completely different compared to him. I remember how you act all embarrassed and shy around me when we were together, but you've never acted like that even once, while I was keeping an eye on you."

All eyes at the table suddenly became more intense and it was directed to Tatsumi, somehow agreeing with Esdeath's words. Was this really Tatsumi, or an impostor?

Tatsumi looked at her with a concerned expression. "Calm down, Esdeath. It's really me, I'm telling the truth. I'm the Tatsumi that you all know, a former assassin of Night Raid. You want proof? I arrived at the capital one day and met Leone, where she secretly stole money from me. I joined Night Raid after a bitch named Aria took advantage of me while her family killed my childhood friends. I fought Akame that night and barely survived if it wasn't for Leone intervening."

Akame and Leone's eyes widened slowly, because they know his words were true, especially for Leone's case because she was the first to meet him.

"You want more proof? I know some things that only the real Tatsumi would know, if you still have doubts on who I am." He took a deep breath. "I walked in on Mine once while she was in her underwear, and I almost got hit with her teigu."

Yep, that was one thing that only Tatsumi would indeed know.

Mine blushed deeply as she let out a little squeak of embarrassment. Chelsea and Leone had to resist the urge to laugh, while Lubbock received a smack to the head from the pinkette herself, after noticing the little nosebleed he was having. Bulat himself laughed quite loudly, and Mine had to cover her ears to prevent herself from hearing it.

Unaware of the embarrassment he was causing, he continued with his words. "When Akame and I went fishing, I was confused while she stripped down to her underwear and I seriously thought she wanted to do it, but luckily, we were just going to catch some fish." he shrugged and chuckled slightly at that particular memory.

Surprisingly, Akame blushed at his words while looking down, whereas Kurome narrowed her eyes at him as she mumbled "Pervert" under her breath. This time, Leone couldn't stop herself from laughing while Chelsea sneaked a few giggles to herself. Lubbock's face was already on the table, silently cursing Tatsumi's luck while Bulat continued to laugh heartily.

"I also remember Sheele sleeping in my room once during the day I was supposed to train with her… she looked cute while sleeping, I got to be honest."

Sheele blushed and looked down as well, as her glasses hid her eyes from everyone else. She didn't really know if that really happened or not, but it was really embarrassing for her to hear.

"To Esdeath," he turned his eyes at the former general of the Empire. "I remember her kissing me twice during the times we spent together. First was when we slept together in her room, and the second time was when we were stuck on that island together. She may act like a tough general most of the time, but she was like an innocent and emotional girl when it came to romance."

Much to the shock of everyone else, Esdeath blushed and looked away, not wanting to let anyone know it was true. However, it didn't really work because the pink hue on her cheeks was visible for the others to see. Leone grinned mischievously and laughed again, because seeing the strongest teigu user becoming embarrassed was a very rare sight to see. Even Akame smirked at Esdeath's misfortune, while Kurome patted her back in an attempt to cheer up the blushing bluenette.

"Lastly, for Chelsea and Leone," said girls suddenly stopped taking advantage of Esdeath's situation to look at Tatsumi. "I remember the two of you asking me on which of your swimsuits was better, and to be honest, I find the two of you really hot in them." he said with a proud grin.

Both girls blushed, the tables having turned on them this time. Mine narrowed her eyes in jealousy, while Lubbock fell off his chair at remembering the little competition that both girls had. Bulat could only smirk at Tatsumi due to how he was handling this situation, and Sheele released a light gasp of surprise.

"That's enough." Esdeath suddenly spoke, her hair covering her eyes as her tone sounded serious.

"Hm?" Tatsumi turned his attention back towards Esdeath.

Esdeath looked up, but a faint blush could still somehow be seen on her face. "You've proven your point. You… really are Tatsumi." her voice became more embarrassed in the end, as she couldn't bear how he suddenly revealed that she kissed him twice out of nowhere! It should have been a secret between them!

"Embarrassed?" Tatsumi couldn't help but smirk at her right now.

"Moving on…" Forcing a serious expression on her face, Esdeath slowly tried to forget her embarrassment by getting back to the topic at hand. "You may be Tatsumi, but it doesn't explain how you are still here. I still somehow doubt it, but if it is really true that hundreds of years have passed since the time of the Empire, then how are you not dead? You didn't even look like you aged a day." The others started to widen their eyes in realization. "Did you die and somehow got brought back to life like us? Did you wake up before us and someone informed you of everything beforehand? How exactly are you here with us, Tatsumi? I'm waiting." Esdeath crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes at the young man in suspicion.

"Y-Yeah, what she said!" Mine exclaimed, before pointing accusingly towards Tatsumi. "If many years have passed since we all died, then how could you have been brought back to life, Tatsumi?!"

"I agree. That really is suspicious." Leone agreed, nodding a few times.

"I feel the same," Chelsea shrugged as she got over her earlier embarrassment.

"Yeah, bro… that sounds way too suspicious to ignore. How did you stay alive until now, or had been brought back to life?" Lubbock asked, looking at Tatsumi.

Akame, Kurome and Bulat could only agree and once again, all the eyes in the room was directed towards Tatsumi. The young man though, kept his composure and began to answer in a calm tone.

"That's because I'm one of them."

"You're gonna have to make more sense than that…" Leone sighed, shaking her head in disapproval.

"It's because I'm a devil, one of those supernatural beings I was talking about earlier." he answered in a clearer voice this time.

Esdeath rolled her eyes in annoyance. "Oh, so we're going back to those bedtime stories that were discussed earlier? Like I said, I would like some proof before I even consider believing in your words." she said coldly.

"Alright, then." Tatsumi got off his seat and set it aside, standing in front them all just by himself, before throwing his right arm to the side.

Esdeath raised an eyebrow. "What are you trying to —"

The blue-haired woman immediately stopped in her words and everyone's eyes widened as a pair of batlike wings suddenly materialized behind Tatsumi, before he began to speak.

"My real name is Tatsumi Raum… and I'm a devil."

* * *

_**Well, that concludes this chapter! It was kind of hard to come up with their reactions, but I hope I did well! Tatsumi remembering those particular moments with the girls is intentional, and I hope their reactions there were all worth it too XD. The second part of his explanation comes next chapter, along with the first peek of Kuoh Academy from Tatsumi's POV. Now time to answer some reviews!**_

_**Shashenka: I have no reason to revive Najenda. She has no teigu and Susanoo is already destroyed, so yeah… plus, if she was around, it would hinder Tatsumi's ability to lead his peerage. He is supposed to be the king, so please understand my decision not to bring her back.**_

_**yogap37412: You mean the lemon one? Depends on my mood.**_

_**Tatsumi's Peerage:**_

_**King: Tatsumi**_

_**Queen: Esdeath**_

_**Bishop: Mine**_

_**Bishop: Lubbock**_

_**Rook: Leone**_

_**Rook: Bulat**_

_**Knight: Akame**_

_**Knight: Kurome**_

_**Pawn (4x): Chelsea**_

_**Pawn (4x): Sheele**_

_**Goodbye… and good night! BANG! *too sweet gesture***_

_**-Lance**_


	4. Seeds of Doubt

_**Disclaimer: I don't own Akame ga kill, Highschool DxD or any of its characters...**_

* * *

Nobody even tried to speak for the next few moments, with all eyes inside the place being locked towards Tatsumi. He remained silent as well, letting this revelation sink into his friends' minds. He knew that they wouldn't be able to take all of this in one sitting, so he decided to stay quiet until one of them could actually accept it.

Even Esdeath, who was feared by many in the empire for her power and intimidating appearance, was in shock because of what had just been revealed to her. But unlike the others who were all sitting around the table, her reaction could be described that she took it better than they did.

Much to Tatsumi's surprise however, it was Mine who spoke up before anybody else.

"Y-Y-You're… a d-d-d-devil…" Mine stuttered, shakily pointing a finger towards Tatsumi, fear suddenly starting to take over her whole self. All this time, the young man that they thought of as a friend… was actually a monster all along?

Based on her voice alone, he immediately knew what she had in mind. "Mine… I'm not gonna hurt anyone, trust me. I may be a devil, but I'm not evil. You're still my friends, and I will never forget that. Look, devils aren't really that bad…" he tried to explain, with some sorrow hidden in his tone because he was expecting this from them the moment he brought them back. "Sure, there are a few devils who really are evil like what you think, but that doesn't apply to all of us. Devils just have a really bad image to most people, that's all."

"You're not… evil?" Akame looked surprised, since she had been glaring at Tatsumi viciously ever since she got over her initial shock.

He looked at Akame and furrowed his eyebrows. "No, why would I be? If I was, I would've never brought any of you back to life. You're all important to me, and I couldn't just let you die. You've all become important to me that I can't let any of you go." he spoke in a sincere tone, looking a bit sad because everyone had doubts on his intentions.

"Tatsumi." Bulat's voice drew Tatsumi's attention away from Akame as the larger man looked serious yet at the same time, worried. "I-If you're… a devil… then… how exactly are we alive then? I may not be religious and all, but I do know that it's impossible for that kind to be involved in something regarding bringing someone back to life. I see that as something only someone like God can –" Bulat immediately got cut off from his words as a headache took over him, causing him to hold his head as a result.

The same headache appeared to have affected the others too as they had their hands on their heads. Even Tatsumi looked like he was suffering from the same sensation, but remained calm in his position.

"Urgh, stupid headache… why won't it just go away…" Mine groaned, wondering why this was happening.

Tatsumi sighed and shook his head, before turning back towards all of them with a serious expression on his face. "One of the rules in being a devil… never mention anything that has something to do with… God…" He stopped for a moment as that particular headache attacked them again, before continuing. "...because if you do… you'll experience a mild headache, or maybe even body pain afterwards…"

"Wait…" Leone muttered, struggling to resist the headache she was feeling. "S-So that means…" Her eyes were as wide as saucers, immediately understanding what Tatsumi was trying to say.

"Yes. I brought all of you back to life… by turning you into devils."

Tatsumi didn't bother to even look at them after he said those words, expecting silence from his friends. And he wasn't wrong, because nobody even looked like they could speak. He expected nothing less from them, and he knew that this would happen.

Esdeath wasn't looking calm anymore, and she had the same reaction with the others around the table, which was completely unlike her to act as such. She wanted to say that Tatsumi was lying and there was some other explanation for this, but she couldn't find it in herself to do so. Chelsea wanted the same as her, but she was too overwhelmed with everything that had just been revealed, that she couldn't even speak out what was in her mind. Mine took it the worst, looking as if she was going to go crazy if nobody bothered to calm her down.

A few moments after, Tatsumi glanced at the nearby clock on the wall and sighed deeply. "Well… I guess this ends our conversation for now." he said, standing up from the table before heading to the couch where his knapsack was waiting for him as he walked towards the front door.

"Where do you think you're going?" Although she was still shocked with what she just found out, Esdeath still managed to stay composed enough to notice that Tatsumi was perhaps trying to avoid them.

Tatsumi stopped just by the door and looked at them. "Look, as much as I would want to explain more of this… you need time to cope with what you just found out. Plus, I'm a student here, so I need to go to school right now and I won't be able to tell you everything that you want to know. Don't worry, I'll come back after school and we can even talk the whole night if you wish. Even I want to tell you everything, just to let you know."

Everyone at the table looked at each other multiple times, not knowing how they should react to this.

"For now, just stay here and make yourselves at home until I get back." He flashed a serious look afterwards and laughed awkwardly. "I know some of you still have bad blood with each other because of what happened in the past, but try not to destroy the house while I'm gone, okay? Yes, I'm referring to you, Akame and Esdeath. It's gonna be really hard to explain things to neighbors when they see this whole place destroyed to the ground."

Esdeath scoffed, while Akame looked down in embarrassment.

"Well, I'll see you later… you can go have a look around if you want, but make sure not to go crazy or anything. See you!" With those words, Tatsumi left the house, closing the door behind him afterwards.

Seeing him leave, Esdeath turned her attention back to the table, taking a sip of the coffee before her. She had a lot in mind, and most of them involved the young man that had her attention since earlier.

"S-So… w-w-we're d-devils… I don't like this at all…" Mine looked pale, staring back at the food in front of her. In fact, she quickly covered her mouth with her hands to prevent herself from throwing up. Learning that she got brought back to life AND the fact that she was a devil nearly caused her to faint earlier, only kept alive when Sheele kept patting her back in comfort.

"Oh come on, you believe him that easily?" Esdeath remarked, rolling her eyes at the pinkette's nervousness. "I expected better from an assassin of Night Raid."

"You're saying you don't?" Chelsea looked at Esdeath incredulously, surprised that the former general was still unconvinced even with the proof that Tatsumi showed them earlier. "Are those wings that Tatsumi showed earlier not enough proof for you? What is it gonna take exactly?"

"I'm not saying I don't believe him fully, because I can sense the truth in his words." Esdeath shrugged, leaning back into her chair. "However, I still have some doubts about this supernatural stuff that he was referring to earlier. Don't you see? He said that he brought us back as devils, but I don't see any wings coming out of our backs like what happened to him."

"I think… that has something to do with us, not him." Leone raised her eyebrow in confusion, her attention focused towards Esdeath instead of the young man who just left. "Who knows, our 'wings' might just appear sooner or later, and we just have to wait it out…"

"Well, I won't sit around and do nothing while he's not here. If we are to know more about our situation here, even without Tatsumi, we still can." Esdeath crossed her arms and smirked at Akame, who went back to glaring at her as soon as she recomposed herself. "Believe it or not, I can tolerate those who I consider my enemies, if in any case, the situation at hand is bigger than both of us, unlike a certain red-eyed assassin in your group. I can work with those who I considered my enemies back then, as long as none of you strike at me first, that is."

"And how do you suggest we do that?" Mine grumbled. She didn't like any of it, but Esdeath was right. Right now wasn't the time to determine who was the enemy and how to kill who-knows-who just like old times, because they had bigger problems at the moment.

Now, Esdeath had gotten the attention of everyone else around the table. "One of us will have to follow Tatsumi wherever he goes, and see what he is doing. Not only will we be able to find out what he is up to and where he is, but the one who'll be tailing him can know more about this new world where we are in and come back to us with more information afterwards. That doesn't so bad of a plan, does it?" her smirk widened as she took another sip of her coffee.

"So who should go follow Tatsumi around, then?" Bulat asked, looking unaffected with Esdeath's presence.

"Well, for one, I think this little mission suits her far more than any of us." Esdeath said, before pointing towards Leone. From that, all eyes were turned towards the blonde-haired **Lionelle **user, who rolled her eyes and groaned, before crossing her arms in disapproval.

Leone did her best not to sound annoyed, but failed because of the obvious look on her face. "Why me and what makes you think I'll even agree to what you want? And shouldn't you be the one to do this because it's _your _plan?"

"Oh, but you'll have to reconsider, little kitten…" A tick mark appeared on Leone's head with that little remark. "If I do end up executing my little plan myself, I would end up revealing my presence because I'm not someone who would use stealth to achieve my goals. I prefer doing it head-on, and that would easily give away my presence, and we don't know what would happen afterwards if Tatsumi notices me. I am actually well-aware of your abilities, if you must know… and I must say, you are the most fitting for this." Esdeath argued, although her mind had a different opinion. "_Actually, I could just kidnap Tatsumi and interrogate him until he gives in, but that would create too much attention, and I'd rather not attract eyes in a world I have no knowledge upon, considering what he said about today's events taking place 500 years after the time of the Empire."_

"This is ridiculous… oi, guys! Tell me you don't agree with this bitch here!" Leone complained, turning towards her friends for support, who stayed quiet for a few seconds before Mine chose to speak up.

"Actually, she's right Leone…" Mine rubbed the back of her head and blushed. "I mean, I could try and follow Tatsumi around too but… I'll have to maintain my distance and observe him from afar. But you can follow him at close range and get a better look at what he's doing."

"Yeah, I believe you can do it, Leone. I mean, I can do it too! I think…? What do we have to do again?" Sheele said, putting her index finger right underneath her chin.

"Seriously? You all agree with this?" Leone deadpanned, unable to believe her friends would choose Esdeath's words over hers.

"I agree with them… you're always the expert in tailing others even from close-range, so you fit this role perfectly, no hard feelings." Lubbock said, immediately raising his arms to show that he wasn't on anyone's side. "Plus, this would benefit us if we want to know more about this new place and Tatsumi himself. If you notice it, he seems very different compared to the one we knew, and it's not because he's a devil."

"Yeah, I noticed that he's a lot calmer compared to the Tatsumi we used to know, the one who we recruited as a member of Night Raid." BUlat said, looking off to the side as he tried to compare this new Tatsumi to the one they came to know back then. "That alone says something… we definitely need to know more about him, and we can't wait around till he gets back because who knows when exactly he'll be back?"

"Yeah, or maybe he's even planning to escape from us because he knows he's screwed…" Chelsea crossed her arms and giggled, before shaking her head in amusement.

"Hang on, how come you don't get to do this little mission?" Leone complained once again, pointing towards the auburn-haired girl accusingly. "You can turn yourself into anything you want, right? You're more suited for this than me."

"Oh, my apologies." Chelsea smiled sweetly before showing off a proud grin. "My teigu actually got destroyed when I fought Kurome, so I can't change my form right now. Even if I did have my **Gaea Foundation **now, I don't exactly know what to turn into because I have no knowledge about this new world we're in, because Tatsumi said that this current day is at least 500 years after the Empire, so things are bound to have changed throughout the years."

Leone's face fell, before slowly turning towards Akame. When she was about to ask for support, the raven-haired assassin already shook her head to show her answer. She tried to turn towards Kurome afterwards, but the younger girl only shook her head and continued to munch on her candies as if nothing happened.

"Well, it appears everyone has spoken…" Esdeath smirked, drinking the last of her coffee. "If you hurry, you might catch up to him… he couldn't have gotten that far yet."

"Tch…" Leone sighed and stood up, walking towards the door with her head down. However, she stopped just beside Esdeath and turned her head towards her with a vicious glare on her face. "Just so you know, I'm not doing this for you… I'm doing this for everyone else and we just happened to have the same situation as yours." she then smiled sweetly, hiding a lot of killing intent in it. "And the next time you call me a 'little kitten', you won't get to see your beautiful face anymore."

Esdeath simply smirked as Leone continued on her way, heading out the front door. As the blonde-haired woman left, Esdeath also stood up from the table and began to walk away.

"General, where are you going?" Kurome asked, wondering where her former superior was planning to go to, when she didn't even know her way around this place.

"I'm going to have a look around and see if there's anything that can entertain me." Esdeath replied, with her hands behind her back. "You can't expect me to sit and wait for Tatsumi or the little kitten to come back now, did you? Perhaps walking around would help me understand more about this new world in which we are in…" she finished with a little laugh of amusement

"I don't trust that bitch one bit." Akame said without a tone of emotion in her voice, as she watched Esdeath walk up the stairs away from them.

"I don't either… but it can't be helped, Akame." Mine crossed her arms and sighed deeply. "If we all end up fighting each other instead of figuring out more of our situation, it won't be good for us and we'd end up knowing nothing. Let's trust Tatsumi that he'll come back and be able to explain more of this…"

"Yeah, you don't have to trust Esdeath in this, Akame…" Lubbock said, looking more concerned at the moment. "I think neither of us trust her, but the last thing we need now is a duel to the death between you two, when we should be focusing on knowing our situation." He then stared downwards, looking more troubled. "_I'm getting more worried for Najenda… if 500 years have passed from the time of the Empire… then… could it be…?" _he shook his head afterwards, not wanting to stray his thoughts away from their situation at the moment. "_That can come later! We need to know more about our current situation!" _he reminded himself, his instincts as an assassin kicking in.

"I agree with them as well, Akame. Now if you'll excuse me, I think I'll have a look around as well." Chelsea said, standing up from her seat before heading to the front door.

"Why are you heading outside?" Bulat asked as he raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"Well, since Esdeath is already going to try exploring this whole house, I think I'm going to move outside and get a better grasp of things 500 years after the Empire." Chelsea said, taking out the lollipop stick that was left from her mouth before pulling out a new one. "Like her, I don't want to wait around for Leone or Tatsumi to explain things, so I'm having my own way to figure out things around here." she popped the fresh lollipop into her mouth before continuing on her way.

"Um…" Sheele stood up shyly, and Chelsea turned around when she heard somebody standing up from the table. "C-Can I come with you? I… I would like to know more about… the world… I think?" she said, fidgeting her fingers together.

"Sure, why not? Ride's free." Chelsea shrugged her shoulders and continued on her way, with Sheele quickly following her.

Mine sighed and stood up as well, following Chelsea and Sheele as they left the house through the front door. "I don't want to stick around doing nothing, so I guess going with them would do me some good because I really want to be filled in on our current situation right now." she said, turning her head so that Akame and the three remaining people on the table could hear her. "I'll make sure Sheele doesn't get in trouble too, don't worry! Because you know her…"

"Yeah, with you around, I think she'll be alright!" Lubbock grinned, giving Mine a thumbs-up before . "But I won't be surprised if Chelsea ends up being the one to get you into –!" he got cut off when Mine suddenly threw a pillow at his face, with the pinkette looking pissed as she left.

In the end, Bulat decided to go back to the bedroom where they were sleeping earlier to sleep it out until Tatsumi or Leone come home, while Lubbock remained by the couch to think about certain things and then stumbling upon the television, quickly finding himself attracted to the TV shows he was watching. Akame, having her old habit from her Night Raid days, washed all the dishes that they used during breakfast, while also gobbling up all the leftover food on the table. Kurome wandered around the house as well, hoping to find Esdeath and just stick with her until Tatsumi comes back, and she did find the blue-haired woman eventually, while she was taking a relaxing shower at the large bathroom on the second floor.

Meanwhile, Leone was silently hopping from rooftop to rooftop, quickly managing to catch up to Tatsumi as he was walking along the sidewalk. To her great surprise, she had her teigu's abilities even though she didn't have **Lionelle **on her anymore! In fact, she was just wearing normal sleepwear right now as she kept her eye on the young man down by the road.

"_I don't know how this happened, but I'm guessing that Tatsumi knows something about this!" _she thought to herself, looking down at her skin. "_I should be covered in fur and my tail should be all visible along with my longer hair and fangs because I fused with _**Lionelle** _but… it seems something happened for me to keep my teigu's abilities even though my appearance is back to normal." _She narrowed her eyes at Tatsumi before biting her lip slightly. "_Tatsumi… did you really have something to do with this?"_

Even though his attention was directly focused on school for today, the moment that he felt that familiar presence not too far from him, it caused him to flash a small smirk in satisfaction.

* * *

"So let me get this straight…" The glasses-wearing girl spoke, moving her rook to an open space where she could take out her enemy's last bishop. "You have a bunch of deadly assassins as members of your peerage with a psycho-ice user as your Queen?"

"Yeah…" he answered in an embarrassed tone, taking out her rook with his last knight as a last effort. "Check."

"That ice user and another girl from your peerage are your former enemies, and yet you leave them alone in your house?" she responded by taking out his knight with one of her pawns, which also left his king in a vulnerable position.

"I trust them Sona, and they're probably too confused to even do anything right now." Tatsumi moved his king away just to stay alive in the game, although he knew he was already screwed.

"Hm, your peerage consists of an airhead, a prankster who is good in disguises, a little sister who is monotone most of the time, her elder sister who is a big carnivore, a strong yet gay warrior, a lioness who loves to get drunk, a pervert/tactician, a pink sniper and a woman who's obsessed with you. I wonder why you never told me any of this. We are friends, are we not?" the woman whose name was Sona, said in a cold tone, moving her queen near Tatsumi's king so that he wouldn't be able to make any more moves. "That's checkmate."

Tatsumi sighed and leaned back, unaffected by his loss. "I couldn't just blurt it all out, Sona… I chose not to tell you because I was afraid that you'll try and do something that involves them, like waking them up sooner than later…"

Sona quirked an eyebrow in interest. "Would you mind elaborating your point, Tatsumi?"

* * *

_**FinzDragzer: Devils' strength aren't determined by wings, lol. Just wait, I think you'll be surprised. :)**_

_**Schwarzritter: I did say the war was thousands of years ago; an added fact here in my fic is that devils age one full year after 100 hundred human years. If you think it's crazy, well sorry, but this is my fanfic.**_

_**The Storm Master 567: Yeah, that sounds like a good idea… I'll definitely use that when he explains Najenda's situation.**_

_**Pyromania101: Well, that's you but… the difference between Tatsumi and Issei in looks are not far though, lol.**_

_** 3e: Incursio is sticking with Bulat, so no Grand Chariot.**_

_**Tatsumi's Peerage:**_

_**King: Tatsumi**_

_**Queen: Esdeath**_

_**Bishop: Mine**_

_**Bishop: Lubbock**_

_**Rook: Leone**_

_**Rook: Bulat**_

_**Knight: Akame**_

_**Knight: Kurome**_

_**Pawn (4x): Chelsea**_

_**Pawn (4x): Sheele**_

_**Goodbye… and good night! BANG! *too sweet gesture***_

_**-Lance**_


	5. The Other Devil

_**It's been a while, but that's because I have school. I'm trying my best to write during my free time though, so here I am! Let me get a few things out of the way before starting this chapter, guys. (Thanks to people spamming my PMs)**_

_**-Like I said in my replies, Najenda is already dead. She's not coming back here, so stop spamming me with requests to have her stay alive. Why? She has no teigu because Susanoo was already destroyed, and with her around, Tatsumi's abilities as a leader will get hindered.**_

_**-Tatsumi isn't a high-class devil for nothing. He has a sacred gear of his own, but you'll have to wait for it. He's practically stronger than all of them right now, but that's just because of what his gear can do.**_

_**-This is a Tatsumi x harem fanfic, with his girls being the waifus of AGK of course, who are already in his peerage. I might add some DxD girls, but I'm not going to steal those who are in Issei's harem in canon. Who knows, I might add Sona or even Serafall or someone in their peerages but let's see. As for lemons, I dunno if I should add them or not.**_

_**Disclaimer: I don't own Akame ga kill, Highschool DxD or any of its characters...**_

* * *

"Remember when I told you about my time in the human world hundreds of years ago? When I was fighting against an empire ruled by a tyrannical prime minister and a kid as his puppet?" he brushed his hair back as he arranged the chess pieces they had used for their chess game just earlier.

"Ah yes, that was the time when you decided to try your hand at living with normal humans, because your normal life in the Underworld made you bored… and that you were the type of guy who longed for adventure and in a few cases, mayhem. You were quite lucky that your parents aren't _that _protective of you because you happen to possess, rather _unique _abilities." Sona explained in a flat tone, staring into Tatsumi's emerald orbs with no hint of emotion whatsoever.

"Y-Yeah…" he rubbed the back of his head in slight embarrassment, before finding himself to be slightly disturbed with Sona's stoic gaze, like she was staring into his soul. "Can you please stop staring at me like that? You're making me uncomfortable with that look of yours." he asked, looking to the side to avoid her eyes for a moment.

"I apologize," Sona replied as she adjusted her glasses.

"What's with you? You weren't like this back when we were still in the Underworld together." Tatsumi asked in a confused tone, wondering if this new attitude of hers was the result of something he didn't know about. He used to be good friends with Sona Sitri way back then in their youth, but their time spent together was cut off short when he left to try and live in the human world, something like an excursion of sorts. Even when he finally returned, he didn't get to see her much, only about a few times, and they didn't even get to speak to each other during those moments.

Now, he felt like they barely knew each other.

After adjusting her glasses, she resumed her emotionless look but made sure not to put too much intent in her gaze. "While you were gone, my parents began to properly teach me on how to be the ideal leader of the clan that they desire for me to be in the future. Before you were given the permission of control over Kuoh like me, I watched over the town on my own. I've also had to defend myself against –" she suddenly stopped in her words, not wanting Tatsumi to get involved with her personal problems. She quickly looked to the side in a very rare moment of hesitation, before recomposing herself afterwards.

"Against what?" he quirked an eyebrow in curiosity.

"Anyway, it appears I've revealed too much. Aren't we supposed to be talking about _your _peerage instead of my personal life, Tatsumi?" she narrowed her eyes at him slightly.

"Oh, right. Sorry." he shook his head and cleared his throat, focusing back to the topic at hand setting the chessboard aside as he finished rearranging everything. "You wouldn't mind if I start at the very beginning, right?"

Sona shook her head slowly. "That's exactly what I want to know."

Tatsumi nodded in response. "Okay… during my time in the human world, I've learned how bizarre and bloodthirsty normal humans can be like, when they have no religion that will guide them. Of course, there is still some who worship, but they've got a pretty twisted way in doing so. There are some who are evil at heart, and I could say that they were worse than devils when it comes to the definition of sinful creatures. But there are also some, who are not naturally evil, but still do evil things, for the greater good. A dark path which is also the road to a better future. That's where most of the members of my peerage fall under."

"I still don't quite follow…" Sona raised an eyebrow, but Tatsumi already had that covered.

"I was getting there, Sona. They were a part of a group of assassins who target those that are a danger to society, or you could say the 'scum' in the land. They kill corrupt politicians, twisted-minded people, fake members of the church, and pretty much anyone who poses as a toxic member of society back then. The group's name was Night Raid, and I've never told you this, but I joined that group of assassins myself."

Sona's eyes widened slightly, losing some of her calm demeanor to shock. "Tatsumi, what were you thinking?! They would have known of your real heritage the moment they noticed something different about you! Did you at least mask your aura when you presented yourself to them?"

"Of course, I wasn't dumb to let out even the slightest bit of aura…" he shrugged, not really finding Sona's shock to be surprising. She was always the type of girl who'd worry even about the littlest of things and issues, although he didn't hold that against her. "I made sure to make my presence feel like I was a genuine human when I joined them, and they never suspected a thing from the start. They were all convinced that I was a simple human who wanted to change things for the better."

Regaining her calm aura, Sona slightly furrowed her eyebrows in curiosity. "May I ask why you wanted to join those assassins? If you were that interested in them, you could have simply watched them from a distance so you'll be able to keep yourself out of matters that doesn't involve our kind. What humans do is their problem."

"Yeah you're right on that…" Tatsumi looked down, remembering the day he got asked to join Night Raid. "But I was interested."

"Interested in what?"

"Remember what I said earlier? They weren't just ordinary assassins, Sona. They wanted the land to be free of the Empire's control, but they had to take a dark path in order to achieve it. The moment I heard about them the day I set foot in the city, I wanted to see them for myself because I wanted to know if they were really just plain old murderers. When I learned about their true nature, I couldn't help but think that those assassins are somewhat similar to us." Sona's eyes widened again as she heard this. "We devils are only known for bad things, yet there are those of us, including you and me, who seek peace among the factions."

"And what happened after you joined them? Is this where you reincarnated them into devils?"

He shook his head. "That comes later… I decided to test them first, to see if they were really willing to kill others in order to achieve the peace they desire. I would help them in any way I could without revealing my real powers if ever they were determined on continuing in their dark path, and if otherwise, I'd have faked my own death and watch them from a distance, like what you suggested earlier. It turned out that they were indeed dead-set on that dark path, even though they knew of the price they'll pay in the end."

"And when did you reincarnate them exactly?" Sona asked, now more intrigued in knowing about Tatsumi's peerage.

Tatsumi went silent for a few moments before continuing. "The price they had to pay at the end of the dark path they were on, were their own lives. They, no, we were assassins, so we were aware that our lives could end at any point. But I knew to myself that I was different from them, and so one by one, I watched them all die in front of my eyes."

He stopped speaking, suddenly remembering the memories he almost swore to never remember again. "As hard as it is to believe, I became too attached to the members of Night Raid for my own good… when they died, I felt like I lost someone really important to me, as if it were a member of my family. But that was only me becoming selfish, because I was also impressed with how strong they were, with their own sacred gears. If I made them my servants, I'd have strong peerage members! That's what I said to myself. At the same time, I realized that they deserved a second chance at life, because their first chance was already destroyed the moment they went on that dark path. If there was no Empire, they could've lived normal lives, free from everything else."

"You decided to revive them, because they've become important to you, and you wanted to give them another chance at living, free from the dark path that they've taken in their past lives." Sona concluded, before crossing her arms under her chest.

"Exactly… and there's also the fact that they're really strong too, so I've managed to kill two birds with one stone here. I gained strong peerage members, and they all just happened to be people I've grown to like and respect… I don't know if I'm lucky or I just made the right decision to join Night Raid way back."

"Tatsumi… I won't interfere with your choice of peerage members, but I just have one question before we continue on with this." Sona nodded to show her stand, before going back to her neutral expression earlier.

"Sure, what is it?"

"You said 'most of your peerage falls under Night Raid', does that mean you reincarnated someone else who, apparently isn't a member of that assassin group?" she asked, raising an eyebrow to show her curiosity.

His eyes widened as he realized what she was implying, before he grinned in embarrassment. "Oh, two actually. They're not actually a part of Night Raid, and they were once my enemies. They're originally with the Empire that Night Raid fought against." he revealed, scratching his head in slight nervousness of what would be Sona's reaction.

"What?!" her eyes widened again, and her reaction this time was different compared to earlier. She nearly jumped out of her seat when she heard Tatsumi say that two of his peerage members were his former enemies, but before she could react any further, the young man already had his finger to his lips, telling her to keep quiet. "Tatsumi, what are you –"

"Shh, our guest just now happens to be leaving, so let's wait for a few moments before we continue this discussion." Tatsumi crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair, looking at the window with a satisfied smirk on his face.

"You mean that presence I felt earlier was one of your peerage members?" Sona asked in a slightly surprised tone. "It's very fortunate that I didn't have Tsubaki and the others check if it was an enemy, but why stop with our discussion if she just wants to leave? Surely, she just wanted to see if you were okay since your peerage hasn't been to this academy yet."

"I'll be explaining that part later on, Sona… but for now…" Tatsumi clasped his hands together as if he was praying. "Please understand this when I say that I intentionally lowered down the barrier you put up earlier so that Leone can perfectly hear what we were talking about."

Sona was speechless.

* * *

Leone ran out of Kuoh Academy as fast as she could, ignoring all the students that were staring at her as she did so. Her wide eyes told the story, clearly in shock after everything she just heard between Tatsumi and the glasses-wearing girl across from him earlier. Leone heard nearly all of it thanks to her enhanced sense of hearing, starting from when she heard Tatsumi saying that he already knew of Night Raid even before their fateful encounter that night in Aria's home.

She might have missed more of Tatsumi's conversation with that girl, which would explain more of their predicament, but Leone couldn't take it anymore. With all the things she had to go through ever since waking up in that bedroom earlier, her normal instincts as an assassin was overshadowed with her own emotions.

She couldn't believe it. She couldn't believe that one of her own comrades whom she trusted and depended on during the war against the Empire, had lied to her.

He lied to all of _them_.

As she continued to run through the sidewalks on the way back towards the house, she could feel tears sting her eyes, thinking about the man that she trusted during their days as an assassin.

"_Why, Tatsumi? Why did you hide it from all of us? Didn't you trust us, your friends?" _she couldn't help but ask herself over and over, while also doing her best to hold back her tears, which was failing little by little. Tatsumi's words about his reason for bringing them back as devils, which involved his personal feelings, as well as… peerage members, or something like that?

It wasn't until a few seconds later, when Leone finally brought herself to wipe the tears from his eyes, that a very serious look formed on her face. She wasn't angry, nor was she upset. She simply looked like she didn't want any more secrets to be kept hidden from her.

But that was until, she remembered those words from his mouth earlier;

"…_when they died, I felt like I lost someone really important to me, as if it were a member of my family."_

The serious look on her face softened a bit, becoming internally touched after thinking of his words… did he really mean it? Did he really think of them like his own family? Perhaps if it was that way…

"_No, I'll deal with that matter later." _Leone shook her head to get herself back on track, remembering that she still needed to tell the others back at Tatsumi's 'home' (she still had doubts about that place) about what she heard between Tatsumi himself and that glasses-girl with him.

* * *

The front door burst open, startling almost everyone in the living room with the sudden intrusion. Lubbock fell off his chair out of shock, Esdeath lazily shifted her gaze to the front door, while the remaining assassins had quickly turned their attention to the newcomer; it could be Tatsumi, Leone, or some other person whom they don't know. Whoever it was, they had to remain wary of anything involving this new world they were in.

"Is everyone in here?!" Leone exclaimed as she quickly made her way inside, looking quite frantic.

Lubbock was scanning through the television channels with Sheele, Chelsea and Mine, after he managed to figure out how to turn it on for about an hour earlier. Together, they tried checking through the various channels on more information about this new age they were in, and though they were still lacking on more critical knowledge, what they learned so far could possibly help them understand this world more. Esdeath was reading a book silently at another couch, not wanting to waste her energy training herself nor join these weak assassins in gathering information. She could do it herself, after all. Bulat was training by himself shirtless, although it was just a normal batch of simple exercises. Akame and Kurome kept themselves occupied at the kitchen, munching away at the various foods that appear to be of this world, finding them to be just as delicious as the grub they used to eat during the days of the Empire, if not better.

"You're back already, little kitten?" Esdeath raised an eyebrow as she began to speak. "Barely three hours have passed, and I was expecting it would be at least six hours before you return. Did you somehow lose track of Tatsumi on your way?"

Ignoring Esdeath's annoying way of referring to her, Leone slammed the door shut and put on the most serious face one could see from her. Again, she wasn't angry about what she was about to reveal though; it would be up to the others on how they would take this revelation.

"I've overheard a conversation between Tatsumi and some other girl who appears to know of Tatsumi being a devil, leading me to believe that that girl is a devil herself." she explained, causing the others to turn their full attention to her; Esdeath had set down her book in favor of listening, while the two sisters in the kitchen joined them in the living room.

"And what did you find out in their conversation?" Esdeath continued to ask, opting to see if the little kitten has something interesting to reveal. If not, well, they could just wait for Tatsumi like what he said before leaving.

What followed afterwards resulted in a mixture of doubt, sadness, slight anger, a twinge of betrayal, and even more confusion; Leone relayed to them everything she remembered from that conversation at the school earlier, and it reached to the point where it almost looked like she would break down, but managed to keep herself composed until she finished talking, albeit barely. Leone held no shame on herself though, because even her fellow assassins were deeply affected with this revelation.

"Is that all you've heard from Tatsumi and that girl?" Esdeath asked, speaking for the first time since letting Leone speak out everything she had to say about Tatsumi and that devil-girl's conversation earlier. "Is there anything regarding how exactly were we turned into devils and not about Tatsumi's personal feelings towards all of you?"

At that question, Leone's straight expression fell, and she could only bite her lip nervously. "N-No, I ran out of there after they were talking about, 'peerage members' or something like that… it was too much for me to handle." she admitted, and her friends could only look at her in sympathy, and they didn't blame her for feeling that way.

"And because of those emotions, we still don't have any information. You had one task, and that was to find out more about our situation from Tatsumi, not listen to some touching words that affected you at a personal level. You are all assassins, aren't you? Aren't your emotions set aside in favor of completing the mission? Now look where your mistake got you… it made you weak, enough to draw you away from your goal. How pathetic…" Esdeath crossed her arms and shook her head in slight disappointment.

"It's not her fault," Akame tried to defend her friend, stepping forward with a glare. "This day has created enough confusion and questions that even the likes of you can't take, while you're simply hiding it by distracting yourself from all of this."

Just as Esdeath was about to answer, Leone cut her off by speaking before anyone else. "S-She's right, Akame… I guess I got too carried away." she admitted with a sad look, staring down at the floor. "I… I should've stuck around and listened a little while longer, but I couldn't take all of this in one sitting…"

"Leone…" Akame muttered, feeling deeply concerned for her friend.

Before anyone could say more, the door had opened and captured their attention right away, as Tatsumi walked inside with a sleepy look, as if he was tired from what happened in school. Nobody said or made a move for a few moments, yet their gaze was simply kept on Tatsumi himself as he waved his arm towards them.

"Hey, everyone." he greeted, throwing his bag towards the couch before stretching his limbs out in an effort to stay awake, because it looked like he was about to go lights out at any second. "So, how were you all –" before he could say anything more, he was quickly tackled to the ground by an angry Leone, with rage hiding behind her cold gaze as she loomed over him.

Mine was about to move from her place to separate the two, only for Lubbock to block her path with one arm, before shaking his head. Understanding what he was trying to say, she could only gulp and watch at her two friends before them, and hope that nothing bad happens.

"Was it true?" Leone asked, her voice completely devoid of any emotion, clearly showing that she wasn't messing around this time.

"I'm sorry, but I'm not following you." he replied, furrowing his eyebrows in confusion, hiding the fact that he knew exactly what she was referring to.

"You hid the fact that you were a devil… from all of us…" she gripped his shirt tight, a lone tear falling onto his cheek. "We were supposed to be like a family, Tatsumi!" she cried. "You said it yourself, remember? Couldn't you have entrusted this secret to us?! You trusted us… but… you only kept us in the dark…"

Esdeath rolled her eyes at this 'dramatic' scene before her, but opted to wait until the little kitten finishes this stupid reaction of hers. There was no need to cause trouble, not when she still had questions to be answered.

He sighed and looked to the side, not wanting to see her sad look. "Simple. Devils are forbidden to tell anyone of their real nature, and you're no exception to that. It doesn't matter whether we spent so much time together that we were like family, Leone. I can't, and it's not allowed for devils to reveal who they are to normal humans… if some human accidentally finds out who we are thanks to some mistake of some kind, we have to erase that person's memories of us so he can't remember." He looked back at the blonde-haired assassin on top of him, and noticed that she began to calm down from her emotional tantrum-of-sorts earlier. "Personally, I'd choose not to tell you my secret than have your memories of me wiped."

"But –" she tried to protest, but Tatsumi prevented that from happening.

"That's just how it is, Leone. In fact, I care about you more than possibly any other human or devil out there. I brought you back because you became important to me the longer I spent time with all of you, doesn't that already prove how much I care? It's not that I kept you in the dark, more like I didn't want you to get involved with anything that involves the supernatural world, because Night Raid was already facing a huge problem in the Empire back then. Even if I did tell you about my secret, it would make things more complicated and it would've been harder for us to focus on our mission to eliminating the Empire. Now, am I wrong?" he looked back at Leone with a solid gaze of his own.

She didn't answer this time, unable to come up with a proper answer. Leone felt nervous all of a sudden, fearing that she might have indeed overreacted and lost the chance to continue spying on Tatsumi earlier.

"Anyway, can you get off me now? I'd reckon you want to continue what we were discussing earlier before I went to school." he scratched the top of his head and sighed. "You're pretty lucky that the president of the student council allowed me to head home early."

"Yes, we'd like that very much, Tatsumi." Esdeath folded her arms and spoke in a bitter tone, not liking this scene before her due to her own jealousy, and that this was just wasting their time instead of Tatsumi giving them the answers they wanted. "Now could you get off him now, little kitten? Your emotions already led you to make a mistake, a simple reminder. Otherwise, I'll be forced to get you off him myself."

Too overwhelmed at the moment, Leone had no choice but to simply follow, slowly contemplating her own mistake as she looked down on the floor. Tatsumi got up and brushed some dust off himself, before putting his hand on Leone's shoulder, causing her to look up at him in surprise. He only smiled in return, before turning his head towards Esdeath. "You should go easy on her, Esdeath… for all that you've been through today, her reaction is not really surprising so her actions are justified in this case."

Esdeath didn't answer, and resorted to narrowing her eyes at him. Compared to the Tatsumi whom she had gotten to know during the days of the Empire, this one was completely different, as if he had gone through a paradigm shift in his whole behavior, as well as demeanor. Because of this, she can't possibly trust his words, at least not just yet.

Lubbock suddenly had a quick thought in his mind, as he pointed towards Tatsumi in an accusing manner. "Hold up! What did you mean when you said 'her actions were justified'? It seems like you knew _exactly_ what Leone was going to do, and that alone is suspicious, don't you think Tatsumi?" Like Esdeath, he narrowed his eyes at his supposed friend, who only tilted his head in response.

"What are you talking about? Of course I knew. I know she was following me after I left this place and she was listening to me and Sona's conversation in her office earlier. She ran away after I said something about not telling them my true nature, and Sona permitted me to go home early so I can make sure nothing crazy happens around here." he explained in a nonchalant tone, causing everyone's eyes to widen.

"What the – how the hell did you know about that?! Knowing Leone, she'd keep her distance and still manage to track you down so you couldn't possibly have seen her! Right, Leone?" Mine's jaw dropped in shock as she stared incredulously at Tatsumi, who shrugged off their reactions and began heading to the dining table where they had their talk earlier.

Leone, recomposing herself after what happened just a while ago, nodded in response.

Tatsumi stopped in his tracks and looked back at them with a little smirk. "I'm a devil, remember? You can't expect my senses to still be like that of a human's anymore. Plus, since I'm your king, I can sense although not directly point ou where you are as long as those pieces inside of you remain intact. There was also supposed to be a barrier put up around the office where me and Sona were talking earlier, but I intentionally lowered it to let Leone listen in on us." he revealed, much to the others' continued shock as he resumed on his way to the kitchen.

Esdeath quickly recovered from her shock and again narrowed her eyes at the young man. "_Interesting… he might be speaking the truth after all. I can't think of any other possible way he could have known that the little kitten was tailing him. He's not stupid enough to talk in private with a fellow… devil without making sure nobody is listening. For now, I shall believe Tatsumi's words… until I figure out more about this." _she thought to herself.

"Wait, wait, wait! What the heck are you saying?! King, pieces, intact?! What the hell are those! And who the hell is Sona?!" Mine screeched out, but Tatsumi didn't even turn around to answer her. "Hey, don't you turn your back on me Tatsumi! Answer me, damn it!"

Just as he finally reached the table, he turned back towards them and sweat-dropped. "If you want your answers, then get over here and let's talk." he said, before returning to his serious look. "Well, now that you know the exact reason why I brought you back, I'll tell you about _how _I brought you back. Hopefully, this discussion goes a lot better than what happened earlier because you were all too shocked for me to continue further."

"I think we can handle whatever you reveal to us from now on… I'm not that shocked as I was earlier." Chelsea shrugged, joining Tatsumi in the kitchen.

With that, the other assassins followed shortly after, wanting to hear the answers they were seeking.

* * *

The current scenario was exactly like this morning's, the only difference being Akame also focusing on cooking a good lunch for the whole group while the others were gathered around the table with Tatsumi at the far end. At first, Akame refused to cook because it was obvious that Esdeath also had a share in it, but eventually and willingly agreed at this new opportunity to get to eat more of those delicious meals she's had earlier.

"Well? Start talking Tatsumi. Or are you going to play us by going around in circles with your explanation again? Or are you perhaps waiting for Akame to finish with cooking first?" Esdeath began, glaring slightly at the young man while the others sent confused looks at her. Wasn't she supposed to be in love with Tatsumi? Why was she acting like he was an enemy right now?

"Alright, but let me first explain some remaining details about me living in the human world, or else you'll keep on assuming I'm keeping some secrets from you." Esdeath only rolled her eyes in slight annoyance but kept quiet, while his friends from Night Raid made sure to listen to his every word.

Even Akame, turned her attention away from cooking to pay attention to Tatsumi as he spoke. "I manipulated the memories of some people in the village to make it look like I was born there, including Ieyasu and Sayo." If this was taking place at any other time, his assassin comrades would interrupt and tell him that he had done wrong, but there was no need for that, because they had to _listen_. "If I was going to make it look like I was a real human like you, I needed some background. For a few months, I lived at that village, getting my first taste of what humans were really like until we went on that trip to the capital. That's all."

"Let me guess, because you're a devil, it's natural for you to do something like manipulating memories of humans." Lubbock said,

"Well, it's not wrong for devils in general but, manipulating memories isn't something that we do often, mostly to prevent conflict with the other factions. And that brings me to what I wanted to explain to you earlier, the event that led to all of this; the Great War between three factions of the supernatural world, the Angels, Fallen Angels, and the Devils."

"Finally, a story worth hearing." Esdeath mused, smirking for a quick second. The others stared at her blankly, did this woman only care about fighting and not anything else?

Tatsumi looked at Esdeath for a few moments before continuing. "I suppose I'll start by explaining just what exactly those factions are what they do. Devils, including all of us, are beings that originated from the Underworld, or as people like to call it, Hell. It consists of the 72 Pillars of High-Class Devil noble families, which I'll be explaining later, along with the Extra Demons and the countless armies under them. Devils are distinguished by a pair of batlike wings behind them, like what you saw with me earlier, while yours will appear sooner or later, you'll see. There are two types of devils, the pure-blooded ones and the reincarnated ones. The total lifespan of a Devil can be up to 100,000 years. All devils age a year that is equivalent to 100 years in human standards. In case you're wondering about my age, I'm at least 2100 years old in human standards, while I'm 21 in devil standards. Are you getting me so far?"

Everyone nodded, although some of them, particularly Mine and Lubbock, looked indifferent upon knowing Tatsumi's real age. But then Akame decided to ask him a question out of curiosity.

"You said earlier that 500 years have passed since the time of the empire… what did you do during that time? Did something happen to you while we were gone?" she asked.

Now, Lubbock had a glimpse of hope in his eyes. He might just figure out what happened to Najenda after all. During those years, Tatsumi must have known what happened to the Boss while they were out, right? He turned eagerly towards Tatsumi, who seemed to look down for a quick second.

"I'll answer that later, Akame. But for now, do you think you could hold the questions off until I'm done?" he replied, and the red-eyed assassin turned away in regret.

"Sorry," she muttered in a dejected tone.

Tatsumi looked at her for a few seconds before continuing. "Anyway next, the Angels. They are powerful beings that serve the God from the Bible," the small headache came through all of them for a brief moment. "And they have the power to inflict pain on us, the devils, thanks to their light-based powers. They reside in Heaven, and they are considered to be "pure" creatures, meaning they haven't committed any "impure" thoughts or actions that go against the teachings of the Bible. If they do so, they become Fallen Angels. These fallen angels are beings that fell from God's grace, having been diverted from the teachings of the Bible. But despite getting cast out of Heaven, the fallen angels are still able to use light-based powers, making them dangerous to devils as well. Compared to the angels, they have black wings instead of white, and they have no halos atop their heads. That's all you need to know about them, so now let's get to my next point, the Great War between those three factions."

By now, Akame had finished cooking and was serving their meals to the table, while also sending a dangerous look at Esdeath [she didn't really like serving food to the ice bitch], who didn't notice the girl's action because she was too focused on Tatsumi.

"The Great War began thousands of years ago, before I was even born. It started after the Biblical God cast out the angels that opposed his teachings, creating the fallen angels like what I said earlier, inhabiting the Underworld alongside devils. The three factions eventually started a war against each other under the leaderships of the Biblical God, the four Great Satans, and the fallen angel organization, Grigori in a large-scale conflict known as 'The Great War' which continued for an unknown period of time until it ended hundreds of years before I was born."

Esdeath quirked an eyebrow. "How and why did that war end then? It seems suspicious for three sides to suddenly give up fighting when they are supernatural beings more so. They are powerful, are they not? Or are they simply too weak to even continue fighting until one would be left standing?" she smirked, not caring even though she was mocking her own kind now.

"I don't know, nobody told me anything, since there's no exact detail about it. I've tried asking about it, but nobody had a concrete answer. Now, can I move on with my explanation, Esdeath?" he sent a knowing glance at Esdeath.

"Whatever you say," she rolled her eyes, and Tatsumi gave her a pleased nod in response. It looked like he wasn't intimidated with her one bit.

"Thanks," he turned his attention back to all of them. "Back to the point, after the Great War ended, the number of devils have greatly diminished, an aftereffect of the war prior. And so, one of the four Great Satans of the Underworld created a system that would help replenish our numbers by reincarnating normal human beings into devils. It is known as the Evil Piece system."

"I'm guessing this is the part where you'll be explaining how you brought us back to life then?" Mine asked, eating through her food slowly.

"That's right," he stood up from the table and began to head to the living room. "Let me get something, all of you stay there." The other assassins at the table all had their eyes glued to him as he pulled something out of one of the drawers underneath the television near the door. It looked to be a chessboard, but of course, his comrades had no idea what it was.

"What is that?" Chelsea asked, staring at the chessboard that Tatsumi was holding as he went back to his seat.

"This," he raised the chessboard before setting aside his plate so he could place it atop the table. "Will help me explaining how the Evil Piece system works."

"And how is _that_ going to help? It looks like a mere board game to me, and I think it is." Esdeath rolled her eyes again, folding her arms across her chest. "Are you going to have a game with your assassin friends, Tatsumi? You're lucky I haven't sent my icicles towards you right now while you keep on wasting my time with pointless actions." her glare hardened as the assassins from Night Raid were all ready to jump into action if need be. Kurome remained stoic, simply staring at her former superior with no hint of emotion in her gaze.

"Esdeath," he called her out, causing her to slowly raise an eyebrow without losing her angry expression. Tatsumi opened the chessboard and looked up at the blue-haired woman, staring into her eyes. Esdeath could've sworn she saw a flash of the Tatsumi that she first saw at the arena way back. The tension in the air between grew as his expression became more serious than before.

"You are my queen."

…

…

…

"HUH?!"

"What the hell is this, Tatsumi?!"

"Tatsumi, is this some kind of sick joke or something?!"

"Tatsumi! You and her?!"

And, for the first time since this morning, Esdeath's eyes widened as a blush began to appear on her face.

* * *

_**Bismarck Alexander: You mean that revealing outfit of hers? Well that's what I'm planning but she'll only be wearing it during rating games.**_

_**Heaven Ascension DIO: It's just Akame being Akame, I guess.**_

_**Tatsumi's Peerage:**_

_**King: Tatsumi**_

_**Queen: Esdeath**_

_**Bishop: Mine**_

_**Bishop: Lubbock**_

_**Rook: Leone**_

_**Rook: Bulat**_

_**Knight: Akame**_

_**Knight: Kurome**_

_**Pawn (4x): Chelsea**_

_**Pawn (4x): Sheele**_

_**Goodbye… and good night! BANG! *too sweet gesture***_

_**-Lance**_


	6. Let's See What You Got!

_**I will be explaining the aging process one more time. It seems that I confused even myself with it. Tatsumi is 21 in the devil world. That means he is 2100 years old in the human world. Let's just say the time of the supernatural is slower than humans so in a way, he is still aging at a normal pace. When one year passes in the Underworld, he turns one year older, while in the human world, nothing happens because it takes a long time. I hope you get it now.**_

_**Alright, here. One looooonnggg chapter just for you, guys. I hope this would cover everything else so that next chapter, we can finally move on to the more interesting stuff. As always, read and tell me what you think in a review. I'm now accepting suggestions for arcs because obviously, I can't take too much from the canon DxD arcs. I'll have to come up with my own and only adopt the important arcs from DxD like the Kokabiel arc, Riser arc, etc.**_

_**Disclaimer: I don't own Akame ga Kill or Highschool DxD and any of its characters…**_

* * *

"Q-Q-Queen?" Esdeath repeated his words, her blush now becoming visible for the others to see. "H-How… I…" she was unable to come up with a proper answer, and her mind was also telling her something else. _"Don't let yourself be fooled, you can't trust him yet, remember?"_

"Tatsumi, answer the question! Why in the world would you be with someone like, her?!" Mine shrieked, standing up from her seat and slamming her palms down on the table.

Tatsumi turned his gaze away from Esdeath to look at the pinkette with a confused expression on his face. "What do you mean?"

"You just proposed to _her_, you idiot…" Chelsea sighed and shook her head in disappointment. He may be a devil but his idiocy at times was one thing that didn't change.

"What are you talking about, I didn't propose to anybody." he replied in a confused yet innocent tone, but that only seemed to trigger his friends more.

"Then what's with that 'you are my queen' crap that you were saying earlier, then? Isn't that basically you proposing to her? Or are you taking us for fools?" Leone, who had gotten over her depressed state just earlier, said in an annoyed tone, crossing her arms below her chest. It looked like she wouldn't let even mere emotions to get in the way of something that involved the people she cared about. Wait, why did she even care if Tatsumi wanted to be with the ice general? He can do what he wants, right?

Tatsumi groaned in frustration, finally getting what they meant. This was harder than he thought. "I'm saying that as a devil, she is my _queen_. I'm not proposing marriage or something like that, okay?" he explained, burying his face into his palm.

Sheele raised her right hand all of a sudden, a bright look appearing on her face. "I… don't get it…" she said in a tone that went lower as she brought her hand back down.

"Me neither." Kurome spoke up, grabbing another cookie from the small jar of sweets before her.

"That's always the case with you, Sheele…" Lubbock commented on the purple-haired girl's airheadedness with a sigh before turning back towards Tatsumi. "And dude, you're gonna have to elaborate more than that if you want us to understand what you're trying to imply."

"I agree." Bulat nodded before turning towards Tatsumi as well. "You should continue on with explaining, Tatsumi. That way, we can understand what is it you're trying to tell us. I'm still quite a bit confused but not so much."

"All right, so _as I was saying_, Esdeath is my queen." he said in a more serious tone, getting everyone's attention quickly. "Before I go any further, first I'll tell you what this is about and please don't try to interrupt me this time." Mine, Leone and Akame looked away to avoid his gaze, since they were the ones who reacted immediately after his _little _announcement earlier. Esdeath already recovered from her little moment of embarrassment, ready to hear more of the answers they wanted.

He pointed to the chessboard in front of him. "This is a chessboard, and the game that you play using this is called chess. In chess, two opposing players are each given 16 pieces before you play." Tatsumi then brought out the chess pieces, specifically the black ones, one-by-one and placed them in front of him before closing the board and setting it aside. "The Evil Piece system that the devils use is based on this game, and it mostly involves the reincarnated devils. This is where you guys come in."

The atmosphere around the assassins became thicker as they were itching closer to getting to the truth, and they desperately wanted to reach out and grab it.

"But before I explain, allow me to give you a more background information about me and devils in general, or you'll be confused when I explain the evil pieces later on." Esdeath fought the urge to roll her eyes in annoyance, but kept on listening to him, perhaps there _might_ be something interesting in his words.

The assassins, excluding Esdeath, all nodded slowly in response and Tatsumi didn't miss the bluenette's growing irritation. That's okay, he wasn't even expecting her to be interested in what he was saying in the first place

"Like I said earlier, there are two types of devils; the Pure-blooded ones and the Reincarnated ones. I'm a pure-blood, because I was born to parents who were both devils." Several of his female assassin friends suddenly cringed at the thought of Tatsumi being a pure devil, but shook it off as they continued listening to him. "The 72 Pillars of Hell consists of 72 different clans, their servants, and the armies serving under them. But at least half of those 72 numbers have gone extinct because of the Great War and mixed-up heritage. I'm from the Raum clan, as well as the heir to being the next clan head. My father is still the boss after several thousand years, but we never know when he might retire. In other words, I'm basically the prince of my whole clan." he finished with a small smirk, an image of his old man appearing in his mind.

_*Whistle* well this was something interesting indeed_ was the thought of almost all of his friends from Night Raid. Who knew Tatsumi was actually royalty? Leone, Mine, Chelsea, and Lubbock had little to no doubts on his words by now, because there was no other person who can give them the truth other than Tatsumi himself, despite Esdeath's piece of advice earlier. Speaking of her, even Esdeath had her attention stolen upon hearing of Tatsumi's status in his own clan, it's almost as if he was proving himself more and more worthy of her _love_…

_"If only this had taken place way back. I might doubt him less and not be too distrustful as I am right now."_ she thought to herself, wondering if this happened way earlier, she'd get over it by now and continue pursuing for Tatsumi's love.

Probably not.

"Next, there are three kinds of statuses among devils. How other fellow devils will normally treat you is based on this, unless you show 'em what you're capable of. We have the low-class, the mid-class, and the high-class devils. In my case, being the heir to the clan has its perks, and because of it I'm considered a high-class devil." he said with his tone filled with pride. "As for all of you, as of now, you're all considered low-class devils in our society."

Esdeath's eye twitched. Apparently, his last statement irked her and the bluenette couldn't help but feel challenged by his words due to her pride. "Mind explaining _why_ am I considered a low-class, Tatsumi?" she fumed, releasing a murderous aura as she spoke. "Have you forgotten who I am and what I am capable of? Or would you like me to remind you _personally_?" she _threatened_, glaring dangerously at the young man.

Akame and the others were ready to jump into action at that moment, if not for Tatsumi holding up his hand calmly. "Hold on, I did say that I'd answer your questions after I'm done explaining, and I wasn't done yet." he said, showing that he wasn't intimidated one bit. "I understand how you feel about this Esdeath, but it's not like you had a choice about it when I brought you back into this world."

All the members of Night Raid had their mouths agape at Tatsumi and his calm demeanor. He sure had _the balls _to talk like that towards someone like Esdeath, and he didn't look fazed at all! Did he completely change from the old personality he used to have? Or was he just a good actor in hiding his true self from them?

Esdeath's glare never left him, but she didn't respond to Tatsumi's words, and it gave the young man the option to continue. _"Perhaps it would be better to listen some more, his current demeanor shouldn't be for nothing. I am still lacking on answers and the information I need before I eventually make a decision on what I do."_ she thought, doing her best to stay calm and composed like earlier.

"Now that I've explained more about devils, let's move on." Tatsumi continued, clearing his throat. "Since I am a high-class devil, I was given a set of chess pieces in order for me to gather servants of my own to form my peerage. Those chess pieces are my Evil Pieces, and they are what I used to reincarnate all of you into devils."

The missing pieces of the puzzle was starting to fall into place, and they were starting to get it (it is unknown in Sheele's case), but they kept quiet so Tatsumi can finish everything he wanted to explain.

"As I witnessed you die one-by-one, I used an Evil Piece to reincarnate you into a devil, and in Chelsea and Sheele's case, it's slightly different but I'll get to that in a moment. After I used my Evil Pieces on each of you, you were put in a long and deep sleep, and the moment you woke up earlier in the morning was you waking up from that slumber." The atmosphere grew thick around them once again. "The Evil Pieces I used for each of you are varied. Like I said, Esdeath is my Queen, so I used this piece to revive her." He raised the queen piece from the table so he could show it to them, one by one.

"I'm starting to get it by now…" Lubbock said, having his hand under his chin in a thinking pose.

He turned his attention towards the people he was mentioning afterwards. "I used 4 pawns each for Chelsea and Sheele when they died, a rook for Leone and Bro, knight for Akame and her sister, and a bishop piece for Lubbock and Mine. Honestly, I may have been _too _selfish to spend all my pieces and reincarnate all of you while not even considering other candidates for my peerage, but I will not regret my decision. That is all. Now, you can ask me whatever you want to ask so go ahead." he finished with a satisfied look on his face.

Nobody spoke for the next few moments, despite Tatsumi now letting them ask whatever question they had. They were trying their best to take in everything he revealed to them just now, but it was a good thing that they didn't take _too _long in contemplating like earlier, because a certain pinkette then decided to break the silence that was caused by them.

"S-So that's it?" her tone sounded sad, as she refused to look at Tatsumi straight in the eye, while said person raised an eyebrow in confusion. "You bring us back, but we're your servants now." Everyone's eyes widened at this. "You're going to use us however you want, and make us do everything you wish?" If it wasn't for the look of anxiety on her face, she was being sarcastic. "Maybe it was better off if you had just let us die, Tatsumi."

He smiled slightly. "Mine, I'm not like that." he shook his head to prove his point. "If I was, I wouldn't have even thought of bringing any of you to life. I would've opted to look for people who are stronger as my peerage members." His statement didn't get to her, if anything, he gave more reason for her to be sadder. "Look, Mine… I think I get what you're feeling. During your childhood days, you were discriminated in vour village. I remember you telling me that during one of our missions in Night Raid."

Mine turned her head towards him slowly, with a small blush on her cheeks.

"If I was one of those evil devils that I told you about earlier, maybe I would have. But to me, none of you are my servants. It's just a title that other devils would use to refer to you in general." he said in a sincere tone. "If that title makes you uncomfortable, then don't think of it. I honestly don't care because I don't see you all as such. If anything, I see my peerage as one strange family, like what we thought of Night Raid in the past. I won't have you do anything that makes you look like real servants, trust me. You've all become really important to me that I can't and will not do something like that. Let's treat each other the way we used to. What do you say?" he finished with a grin.

Leone, Akame, Bulat, and the other members of Night Raid smiled warmly at him; well, looks like this was another trait that he retained. Despite what happened earlier with Leone, he still had the personality of the Tatsumi of old, the one they came to know.

For a few moments, Mine was completely shocked with his answer, the blush on her face becoming more and more evident for the others to see. Just as a full-blown smile was about to appear on her face, Mine quickly shook her head and turned away, before crossing her arms and letting out a huff. "O-Okay, I won't complain if that's what you want. But it's not that I wanted it to happen! Got it?" she narrowed her eyes at him.

"Yeah, I got it." he smiled in return, happy that Mine was getting back to her old self. It was only a matter of time before everyone else would come around and accept their new reality.

"Tatsumi, what exactly did you do to bring us back?" Bulat asked in a curious tone. "Did you, uh, took our souls in exchange for reviving us?" he asked with an awkward grin, and Tatsumi only shook his head in amusement.

"Bro, you've got it all wrong." He waved his hand in dismissal while also letting out a small chuckle. "That soul-for-another-chance-at-life thing is just an urban legend, at least for humans. For devils, it's a joke. And the way I brought you back is not really complicated, yet not easy to do either since it requires magic power. But anyways Bro, in your case when you died, I let the rook piece levitate towards your chest and said a short incantation, then afterwards, your wings sprouted out of your back and voíla, you became a devil."

"That's good," Bulat let out a huge sigh of relief. "I didn't want to lose my soul… I love myself, that's why." he then hugged himself, much to the discomfort of Lubbock and Tatsumi.

Lubbock quickly snapped out of it and proceeded to clear his throat before speaking. "Tatsumi, I'm curious about something."

"What is it?" he turned towards Lubbock.

"What happened after you brought us back? You said earlier that we were put in a sleeping state and the moment we woke up was just earlier. It would explain how 500 years have passed since the days of the Empire, but what happened to us during that period of time? You can't expect me to believe that we've been sleeping on your bed the entire time." he crossed his arms as a smirk appeared on his face.

"Good question." Tatsumi answered with a smirk of his own. "Okay in some devil families, a certain ability or power is exclusive to them and them alone, with its members needing to train exclusively hard to be able to master it. A few examples include the Bael clan's Power of Destruction, the Phenex with their healing and immortality, the Sitri having a high affinity in water, among others. In my family's case, the Raum, we have the ability to create, open, and manipulate alternate dimensions with our power. I used one of the dimensions I created when you were all in a sleeping state, and I only brought you out of there, one by one, just last night, and that's how you woke up in my bed earlier."

"Can you show us?" Akame requested with her usual monotone voice. It's not as if she didn't believe what he said, but it would be better if he _showed _what he was saying, rather than just pure words.

"Sure, why not?" he shrugged his shoulders before throwing his right arm out and waving it in a circular motion. A black magic cirle then materialized beside him where his arm was just earlier, making everyone's eyes widen yet again. The magic circle then changed its form slightly, allowing everyone to see what was on the other side of it.

"It looks like… a dark void or something? Or is it just an empty, colorless space?" Lubbock inquired, observing the dimension on the other side of the magic circle, which was simply a dark, empty space with nothing to be seen.

"I made this dimension after Sheele died." Tatsumi explained, turning to look at the purple-haired assassin for a moment. "Once you are inside that realm, no matter how you try to fight it, you will be put into an eternal sleep. Of course, it's not as if you didn't get hungry or thirsty for hundreds of years. Let's just say that you were in a comatose-like state that you there was no need to worry about your body's basic necessities."

"That sounds creepy and mind-blowing at the same time…" Chelsea mused, still with a lollipop in her mouth. "Can you make a dimension where there's a big beach I can relax in, Tatsumi? The others here can join in if they want too." she grinned playfully at him, eliciting a few smiles from the other Night Raid members. Now that wasn't a bad idea, and it wouldn't hurt to relax, right? After all, their time as assassins were already done.

"I like that idea, maybe we could have another competition of swimsuits for ya again, Tatsumi." Leone spoke in a sultry voice, before wiggling her eyebrows at the young man as Chelsea agreed with her, while also causing Lubbock to fall off his chair with a big nosebleed.

"I must say, a beach wouldn't be that bad. It might help me take my mind off everything else right now." Esdeath said, thinking deeply about what Chelsea suggested.

"I wouldn't mind," Akame said.

"I don't care, just give me more candies." Kurome muttered, while burping softly after all the sweets that she had eaten so far, causing her to blush slightly.

"Let's do it, Tatsumi!" Bulat agreed with a toothy grin, raising his fist high in the air.

"Hell yeah, let's go see the girls in their swimsuits! I can't wait!" Lubbock cheered with a perverted grin as he stood up with sparkles coming off him, with blood continuing to drip down his nose.

"Pervert!" Mine grew a tick mark on her head, before punching him square in the face, sending the green-haired man to the ground before turning back towards Tatsumi. "A-Anyway, since almost everyone wants to relax at a beach, I guess I should come along too." she said, looking to the side before pointing accusingly at Tatsumi. "But don't think you can get a peek at me, or you're going to get it." she threatened, and Tatsumi then began to laugh all of a sudden.

"Why are you laughing?" Chelsea asked, quirking an eyebrow in confusion.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, it's just…" he stopped for a moment in order to catch his breath. "I never thought I'd see the day that all of you would all agree on one specific topic." Everyone was surprised with this. "Don't get me wrong, this is exactly what I want to see! You are all part of the same peerage under me, so getting along with each other is one of the most important things to do."

"W-Wha—" Akame was speechless for a few seconds, before she stood up and glared at Tatsumi. "I will never get along with someone like _her_, and you know that Tatsumi! She'll turn on us the moment you let your guard down." she directed her gaze towards Esdeath who returned it with a scowl of her own.

Esdeath scoffed at Akame's words. "I'd say that I _can_ get along with those I considered the enemies of the Empire in the past, as long as you don't come at me first. Like most of you, I am still intrigued with this new environment before I make a move. And unlike _you_, at the very least, I can be patient and cunning before I take my prey." she flashed a sadistic smirk at Akame. "Me turning on you? That's a possibility, but you won't get to live to warn your friends about it."

Akame growled in response, but before she could make another move, Leone pulled her back to her seat. "Leone!" she cried, but the blonde woman just sighed and shook her head.

"Give it a rest, Akame. You two have been going at it since this morning and we're getting tired of it." she pinched the bridge of her nose and when she saw Akame about to answer back, Leone clamped her hand over her mouth. "You don't even have **Murasame**, so stop acting as if you have a chance against her." Akame then looked down, looking depressed. "The least you can do now is listen to what she's saying and just be neutral with her, in other words, don't be kind nor hostile."

"At least the little kitten knows how to perceive and understand my words," Esdeath smirked and Leone simply rolled her eyes in annoyance at that damned nickname.

Tatsumi sweat-dropped at their small banter. "A-Anyway, do you still have any more questions that you want to ask?"

While everybody was trying to think of what else they could ask, Sheele turned towards Tatsumi with a curious look on her face. "Tatsumi, have you seen Boss? We haven't seen her since this morning, and there might be a new mission for us to do today." she asked innocently, causing everyone's eyes to widen.

Silence took over the whole room afterwards, while Sheele turned her head left and right in confusion. "E-Eh? Why is it suddenly so quiet? D-Did something happen?"

Lubbock gritted his teeth, as he almost forgot to ask about Najenda that Sheele had to be her usual self just to remind him of it. _"Damn it, how could I almost forget about her?! I'm such an idiot!" _he cursed himself, clenching his fist in anger. _"Anyways… it's time for answers." _he slowly turned towards the person who likely has all the answers he needed.

The Raum heir froze in his place, his eyes wide just like all of them, and this didn't go unnoticed by Lubbock. "Tatsumi," he breathed out, getting his friend's attention. "What happened to Najenda?" he asked calmly, wanting a clean and direct answer Tatsumi himself.

It took a few moments before Tatsumi finally responded, starting with a deep sigh. "I'll be straightforward and give you the short and simple answer." Everyone had their full attention on him now, just as he began to speak.

"Najenda is dead," he said bluntly and everyone's jaws had dropped in shock.

Not surprisingly, Lubbock was the first to answer back as well. "W-What?" he said, unable to fully understand what Tatsumi meant. Or was he just denying it deep inside himself?

Tatsumi took a deep breath, since there was no going back now. If they wanted the truth, he'll give it to them. "She passed away long ago, about 35 years after the battle for the capital. Najenda stayed true to her words and helped rebuild the nation from the bottom up. We were the last members of Night Raid that stayed alive, and since the war was already over, there was no reason for me to stay anymore. We went our separate ways a few days after the Empire's defeat, because I needed to find the remaining teigus that were still functioning even after everything that's happened. I visited her every year, to see if she was doing okay, and she was."

"Wait a minute, why did you need to find those remaining teigus? What were you planning to do with them?" Mine asked, taking the direction of the discussion towards the topic of teigus.

He turned towards Mine. "That's something I'll explain sometime soon, but not now. There are still many things I have yet to show to all of you, but I'd rather not do it all in one sitting, or you might end up getting a mental breakdown because of too much informtion."

"Y-You have a point…" Mine bit her lip and looked away, fearing the possibility of a mental breakdown happening to her. That was something nobody would want to happen to themselves.

_"He is hiding many things, then… hm, well played Tatsumi." _Esdeath thought with a small smirk, while also chuckling to herself. _"The more secrets you continue to keep, the longer it takes for me to make a decision on what I should do. Well played, indeed… I'll have to go along with you and Night Raid for now then…" _

"Continuing, I kept on making annual visits back to the capital until one day, when I saw that she wasn't there anymore. At that time, Boss was already retired and chose to reside at a small hut in the same area where Night Raid's original headquarters was located. When I went to her place, I found out that she was suffering from lung cancer and it was terminal, so she didn't have much time left."

"You couldn't have made her a devil like what you did with us?" Leone asked with a conflicted look.

"Believe me, if I had any more spare Evil Pieces that time, I'd make her a part of my peerage without hesitation. I used my last Evil Piece when I revived Leone with a rook." he said, taking in a glass of water to keep himself composed.

"I can't believe this…" Leone muttered in sorrow, holding her forehead with her hand in an effort to keep her emotions stable. All the former members of Night Raid pretty had the same thing in their minds, until Tatsumi broke them out of their trance.

"Actually, there's more to it than just that." he said, getting everyone to turn back to him once again.

"What do you mean, Tatsumi?" Bulat spoke.

"Before I visited Najenda that day, I had a, friend in the Underworld who asked a favor from me, that if I ever find a human here who I think is worthy of being one of her servants, I have to bring that human to her so she could reincarnate him/her into a devil and as her servant. I respected the Boss as a strong woman, because of how she led Night Raid into victory, despite the losses we've suffered along the way. She had lots of potential, but got hindered with her disabilities like her arm, so I had a good feeling that she would make a really strong devil if she becomes one."

"So what did you do?" Chelsea asked.

"I didn't want to force her into joining my friend's peerage; if it was about joining me, it'd be a different story. So I decided, for once, I'd go against the rules. I told the Boss about the supernatural world, devils and their peerages, and how there's a way to save her life by becoming a devil." He looked at all of them, one-by-one. "I also told her that you were still alive and can see each other again if she chooses to accept the offer. But then…" Tatsumi's eyes turned sad as he thought back to her words, they of which he would never forget.

_"I've had enough misadventures for a lifetime, Tatsumi, and frankly, I'm satisfied with it. Akame, Leone, Lubbock, Mine, and everyone else… they'll be relying on you now, kid… you're the new Boss, so get out there and make me proud, or I'll haunt you for the rest of your life."_

"…she turned it down and, I respected her decision." he continued, not even bothering to look at the members of his peerage anymore. "She died less than a month later, and… I cremated her body so nobody in the supernatural world would get any ideas about reincarnating her into this world again." Looking up at his comrades, some of them were close to Tatsumi then turned towards Lubbock, who was staring at him with an emotionless look, yet it hid a lot of intent behind it.

"Are you mad at me for not saving her, Lubbock?" he asked sincerely, to which the green-haired sighed deeply afterwards.

"Nah," he waved Tatsumi off, before resting his head on top of his arms on the table. "I understand her decision, and I respect it too. Even earlier, I was already expecting that she's long gone, but I wanted to see if you knew something about it. I just wish I could've been there for her, even if I was already a devil or something. She seemed so alone, judging from your words." The members of Night Raid looked at him in sympathy; of course he would feel this way since out of all of them, he was the closest to Najenda.

Tatsumi looked at Lubbock for a few seconds before he arranged the chess pieces on the table back inside the board game before he stood up and headed to the living room, returning it to the drawer where he had gotten it earlier. But before he went back to the dining table, it looked like he was once again getting something from inside it.

"What are you doing over there, Tatsumi?" Chelsea said, trying to get a peek at what he took from the drawer.

A few moments later, Tatsumi returned to the table with something inside his right fist. Walking towards Lubbock, "She wasn't alone, Lubbock. I may not have been able to be there for her everyday, but Najenda never felt alone one bit. She had all of you in her heart and mind, even if she thought you were already dead. Don't forget, she's a strong woman as well, she doesn't need a babysitter." Tatsumi smirked at the end of his statement, before revealing what was in his palm; Najenda's eyepatch.

Lubbock widened his eyes as he immediately looked up at Tatsumi. "Where did you get this?" he asked in a panic, unable to believe that Tatsumi had the Boss's eyepatch in his grasp.

"She entrusted it to me for safekeeping, because she wanted _you _to have it. Think of it as a way of honoring her memory if you wear it, buddy." Lubbock's eyes widened even more. "What, didn't expect that Boss would give you something that was exclusive to her? Just take it, bud. Najenda would be pissed if you didn't."

"Yeah, just take it, Lubba." Leone agreed, crossing her arms under her bust. "Boss would be mad if you refuse, anyway."

"Yeah, go for it, pervert." Chelsea grinned, as the remaining members of Night Raid smiled in silent agreement. Feeling the support of his comrades, the green-haired man clenched his fist and lowered his head with his locks shadowing over his eyes.

"I guess this is the part where I say that I can't accept it…" A moment of silence then erupted, before Lubbock snapped his head up with a massive grin and his eyes sparkling in joy. "But screw it, give me that!" he quickly snatched the eyepatch from Tatsumi's hand and immediately put it on.

"Hell yeah, I feel more badass now! No wonder Najenda never wanted to take this little thing off back then!" Lubbock exclaimed, raising his fist in the air as he pulled off a little dance for himself. "I'm gonna make her proud when I fight again with this thing now on my face!"

"That's one thing you can't help but like about Lubba," Leone chuckled. "One minute, he'll look down and under and the next thing you know, he's already back to his old self."

Tatsumi turned towards the rest of the former Night Raid assassins. "If it makes the rest of you any better, I built a memorial for Boss." This got everyone's attention and Lubbock to stop dancing. "It's not a big shrine, since I don't want anyone getting ideas to go there except for me. And well, since you're all finally awake, we can go there altogether if you want. It's located near the place where our old base was stationed and, I go there monthly to make sure it stays clean and tidy."

"Woah…" Mine breathed out in amazement. She never expected that kind of thing from him.

He rubbed the back of his head. "So, what do you say? It's Saturday tomorrow, so I don't have school and I also still have to —"

"YES!" the members of Night Raid answered back with no hesitation, and Tatsumi chuckled at the fact that they didn't even let him finish his sentence. When it came to comrades and showing camaraderie, it seems that nothing would get in Night Raid's way.

"Okay, okay, you got a deal." Tatsumi nodded a few times before heading back to his chair to sit down. "We go there tomorrow, that's a promise. Now let's get back to business. Do you have any more questions that need answering?" he then poured a glass of water for himself and drank.

Esdeath looked like she was about to say something, but Akame beat her to it, causing the bluenette to click her tongue in annoyance. If she knew that Akame was doing this on purpose to interrupt her, she'd unleash her ice right now without a word.

"Tatsumi, why did you have to wait 500 years before waking us up? Why that long?" she asked, and Esdeath's eyebrows raised slightly. Now that was a good question, wasn't it? Why _did_ he keep them in a sleeping state for hundreds of years? Wasn't that bit too exaggerating? A span of a few months to a year could still be arguable, but 500 years was way too suspicious.

Esdeath turned towards Tatsumi for answers, as the young man only sighed in response.

"That…" he began. "…is also one of the things I'll explain not now, but soon. Regarding the teigus and the reason why I let you sleep for 500 years, it's too big of an issue for me to tell you right away. For now, let's work on having you fully adjust to this new world." he explained, and Akame nodded in response.

_"From the way he's speaking, it appears that the teigus exactly have something to do with why he kept us in the dark for 500 years…"_ Esdeath shot a glance at the members of Night Raid. _"They don't have their teigus with them, apart from the little kitten and myself… since they can't fight, that means I have a chance to free myself from being Tatsumi's servant!"_ she smirked inwardly at her plan, before turning her gaze at Tatsumi. _"I may have feelings for you, but I will never be a slave to anyone. Now it's time to figure out what I am capable of now that I'm a devil, and I'm expecting good results."_ she cleared her throat afterwards.

"It looks like that issue about teigus has been held off, so I'll take this chance to ask a question of my own." Esdeath said, earning everyone else's attention.

Tatsumi turned to her. "Sure, what do you want to ask?"

"Now that we are devils, are we somehow stronger than when we were humans?" she tried sounding curious, careful not to make it look like she had hidden intentions. "I mean, we are now a part of the supernatural world, are we not? Surely, we are now more than what we were capable of in the past. I think it's logical that we would be more powerful now, don't you agree?"

The other members of Night Raid all shot a suspicious glance at her. A question of that calibre can be expected from her, and from the looks of it, she had something in mind. How could they not? They know enough about Esdeath to make out that her obsession for strength and power was something that can't be easily rivaled.

Tatsumi, for his part, couldn't help but chuckle upon hearing her question. Something like that can only be asked by someone like Esdeath, and it wasn't surprising since he knew about it way back. "I was expecting a question like that to be asked by you, Esdeath." he said, causing the former general to narrow her eyes slightly. Was he aware of what she was planning? "Anyway, if you want the short and simple answer, then yes, you are all more powerful now than when you were still humans."

The members of Night Raid and Kurome had their eyes widen slightly at hearing his words, while Esdeath hid her amusement with a blank expression, keeping her gaze glued towards Tatsumi.

"But if you want a more detailed explanation, I'd suggest you follow me." Tatsumi continued, standing up from his seat as he walked towards the staircase in the living room.

"My, my, it looks like things are going to get more interesting now." Esdeath mused to herself, before standing up as well, following Tatsumi into the living room. At the sight of her former superior leaving, Kurome stood up and left too, while holding a new jar of sweets in her hands.

Leone narrowed her eyes. "Something tells me that that woman has something planned, and I'm not going to sit here and wait until we find out." she then sighed and scratched the back of her head. "Plus, I'm also kind of interested to know how much stronger we have become. Come on." she stood up and left as well, with Akame following closely behind her.

"I'm not really in the mood to be involved in a fight right now, but it wouldn't hurt to know how strong we are now." Chelsea shrugged as he followed them too, sucking on a fresh new lollipop along the way.

Too confused to figure out what was happening, Sheele simply stood up and trailed behind Chelsea, following her since they were, after all, exploring the area outside just earlier, right? That means… she should follow… her… err, right?

"I'm just gonna follow them and get this whole thing over with. I already have all my questions answered." Lubbock stood up, with his new eyepatch on, and followed the others. Bulat stood up as well and walked beside him, stealing a glance at Lubbock's new look, internally admitting that he did look quite badass with Najenda's eyepatch on.

"The Boss's eyepatch does indeed suit you, Lubbock." he said, rubbing the back of his head.

"Don't get any ideas." Lubbock shifted himself away from Bulat with a deadpanned expression, not wanting anyone to get the wrong idea of them.

"Hey, wait for me!" Mine exclaimed, standing up as well and running after the others.

* * *

The whole group went down the staircase into the house's basement, with two big rooms to the left and right. Tatsumi led them down to the left room, but Sheele was curious enough to ask about the other one.

"T-Tatsumi?" she began. "What's inside that other room?"

"Oh, it's a bathhouse; it's big enough to accommodate all of you," he looked at all of the women in his peerage. "Well, actually it's big enough for all of us to use at the same time. The temperature inside is steamy, perfect if you want a long and hot soak, but it can also be adjusted if you wish. It's better than all of us having to take turns at the lone bathroom beside my room upstairs."

Some of the girls, including Mine and Chelsea, blushed slightly at the thought of bathing with Tatsumi. Even Esdeath blushed, but shook it off after remembering her little plan earlier. Meanwhile, Lubbock began to drool and have a nosebleed at the thought of taking a bath with the women of Night Raid, causing him to receive a smack to the head from Leone and making him cry out in pain.

"Don't think you can take a bath with us around." Leone said with a tick mark on her head.

Tatsumi chuckled as he opened the door to the room, leading his peerage inside a large training hall complete with equipment and training dummies. It was like they were back at Night Raid's headquarters. They walked towards the center before stopping, as he turned towards all of them. "Now that you guys are now devils, you have to understand that while you are stronger than average humans, you have to keep your powers concealed, so that humans won't be able to figure out who and what you are. It's just like what I did when I kept my powers hidden from you when I joined Night Raid." he explained, causing Esdeath to roll her eyes in boredom, while everyone else simply nodded.

"Seems easy enough to do." the bluenette muttered under her breath. "Now can you get a move on, Tatsumi? I'm sure your servants are smart enough to know what should and should not be done as devils." she said nonchalantly, causing the most of Night Raid's members to send a scowl at her direction.

"All right, since you're asking so badly for it…" Tatsumi rubbed his forehead and sighed. "All devils have increased physical abilities, such as in strength, endurance, and senses. Plus, since we are creatures of the night, we have the ability to see clearly in the dark. Since we have wings, we can fly and safely retract them into our backs to make it disappear."

"We still have to figure out how to make that work though…" Leone looked over her shoulder, seeing no wings coming out of her back.

"They'll come out eventually. Now another ability that all devils have is called 'Language', where people who are listening to us can hear it in the language they are most familiar with, and vice versa. We can also cast magic spells, with the most common example being the magic circle, which is used for travel. Like what I showed earlier, certain abilities are exclusive to a particular clan, which is the Raum's dimensional creation ability. Although their can also be members of the clan who can't use such powers, and they are the ones who are looked down upon, even by their own family."

"As they should be," Esdeath remarked with a smirk. Night Raid's former members threw a more dangerous look at her. Seriously, can't this woman give it a rest? Does she always have to make a harsh comment whenever tests of strength and power are being talked about?

"To be able to use demonic powers," Tatsumi continued. "A devil must have the power of imagination, the power to create, as well as have a good sense. This doesn't go unrewarded, by the way, because once you become powerful enough, you can develop a resilience to holy objects and light weapons," he finished.

"That's it?" Akame asked.

"Not quite," Tatsumi shook his head. "Those things that I've told you are just what devils are capable of in general. The Evil Pieces that I used to reincarnate you into devils also grants you some additional abilities that corresponds to the piece you received."

Tatsumi turned his attention towards Sheele and Chelsea. "The Pawns are basically the weakest pieces and they are worth 1 Pawn each, because they are also the basis for the power levels of the Evil Pieces." Chelsea then noticed Esdeath smirking at her and Sheele but ignored it in favor of listening to Tatsumi. "However, both of you took 4 Pawns each, which is actually more powerful than the Knights and Bishop, but I'll get to that later."

This time, Chelsea sent a smirk to Esdeath's direction while the former general scoffed silently at getting proven wrong.

"The Pawns may be the weakest pieces, but they can also be the winning piece if you play right," Tatsumi smiled. "A special ability of the pawns is the ability to 'promote' into a Queen, Rook, or Knight in enemy territory, or when you King, in other words, me, gives you permission to do so. Once you promote, you gain the ability of the piece you promoted into."

"T-That sounds wonderful!" Sheele cheered on, before her smile dropped a few seconds later. "I think?"

"Sweet," Chelsea smirked, walking over to Tatsumi and leaning towards his ear. "That makes you like _my real king_, Tatsumi… I like it." she whispered huskily into his ear, causing the young man to blush furiously.

"Okay, that's it!" Mine seethed, charging forward to pull Chelsea off of Tatsumi. "There's no need for your teasing right now, Chelsea! Tatsumi is still trying to explain things!"

"It seems to me that you're just jealous, Mine. Don't worry, you can have your time with him later." Chelsea winked at her, causing the pinkette to blush brightly and let go of her.

"I am not jealous!" Mine stomped her foot on the ground, which only caused Chelsea to laugh at her embarrassment even more.

Tatsumi sighed and massaged his forehead. "Moving on," he groaned. "For Akame and Kurome, they each consumed a Knight piece. Knights are worth 3 pawns and they have increased speed and mobility, which enables them to perform high-speed attacks and maneuvers. However, their main weakness is their low defense, so that makes you two vulnerable to powerful attacks if you're not careful. You should also be careful with your legs, because if those are injured, your speed will be greatly reduced. I chose to make you both Knights because I think you'd be a very deadly team when you work together and be in sync with your speed. Do you get the gist of it so far?"

Akame and Kurome nodded.

"Well then, why don't you try out your powers around here and go for a run?" Tatsumi looked around him and smiled. "It shouldn't hurt to stretch your legs a little, now would it, Akame? And I also trust you to get along since you two are siblings. Remember, you're all part of the same peerage now, so there are no enemies among us."

"We understand," the red-eyed assassin replied before she and Kurome prepared themselves for a run.

The others then looked on in fascination as the two sisters ran around the room over and over with great speed, before Tatsumi took their attention again. "If you're looking to test what a pawn can do, Chelsea and Sheele, this isn't the right time for it since there are no enemies around nor is there a situation that requires you to promote."

"Don't worry, it's cool." Chelsea sent him a thumbs-up as Sheele nodded.

"Woah, my eyes can't keep up with their speed…" Mine breathed out as she watched the pair of sisters continuing to sprint around them.

"Yeah, they'd be a really good and deadly combination when they work together." Lubbock remarked, just as Akame and Kurome finally came to a stop and joined with them again. "A bunch of quick and silent killers out to get ya, now that's something to be feared."

"Nicely done, you two." Tatsumi sent a grin to the two sisters, who both flashed a small smile in response.

"I can get used to that speed," Akame said as she wiped the sweat off her forehead.

"I agree with Big Sis." Kurome said, chewing on another cookie that she got from the jar of sweets that she took from the dining table earlier.

"Now onto the next piece, the Bishop." He then turned his attention towards Mine and Lubbock. "Like the Knights, Bishops are worth 3 Pawns. You two each consumed a Bishop piece, and now you've gained a massive boost in your magical abilities."

"Magical abilities? Since when can we do that?" Mine asked in confusion.

"I'll explain more about that soon enough since it involves your teigus but for now, just hear me out." The two bishops nodded in agreement. "With your magic being enhanced, you can use it to conjure up a multitude of spells. You can either learn a spell or use your teigu to concentrate your magical energy, but like I said, I'll explain more of that soon. More powerful spells consume more of your magical power, which takes a long time to regain, so you have to spend your power carefully and not risk getting vulnerable to physical attacks. I made you two bishops based on the abilities you've shown in the past; Mine with her long-range fighting and Lubbock with his tactical mind."

"That sounds like a good deal, I like it." Lubbock nodded a few times in satisfaction, thinking about Tatsumi's choice to make him a bishop.

"Yeah, I wouldn't risk getting close with the enemy. I'm more capable shooting from a distance. Good job, Tatsumi. You made the right choice." Mine agreed, smiling at the young man.

"I'm glad I did." Tatsumi smiled in response before turning his attention towards Bulat and Leone. "For you two, you received my Rook pieces. The Rooks are worth 5 pawns, and they gain superhuman strength, leading to high offense and defense. Your only weakness is that your'e not very quick, and can be beaten easily by a high-speed opponent. For instance, if you two were to fight against a fully-synchronized team of Akame and Kurome, you'd lose because of their speed. So be sure to use your strength wisely, or it could lead to your defeat. Now, please don't try to test out that strength here, you can do that once I'm done explaining everything." he raised his hands in front of him as if he was surrendering.

"I think I can manage perfectly fine." Leone put her hand on her hip and sent Tatsumi a wide grin. _"I also still have to ask him how am I able to look like this when I remember fusing with _**Lionelle**_ before I died. I just hope he'll answer, even if he clearly said he'll explain the issue about teigus some other day."_

"I can just train myself so that my speed can be on par with my strength, then," Bulat grinned as well as he spoke. "There's nothing that a little training can't do!"

Tatsumi smiled at them for a few seconds, before turning his attention towards the last member of his peerage. "Esdeath, since you are my Queen piece, that makes you the most powerful member of my peerage."

Everyone's eyes, even Esdeath's, have widened upon hearing this.

"Queens are worth 9 Pawns. The Queen piece possesses all the characteristics of Rooks, Knights, and Bishops, making them the most balanced piece as well as the most powerful. Within individual peerages, Queens typically act as their master's second-in-command, helping to oversee the rest of the peerage."

Just as Leone and Akame were about to call Tatsumi for his brash decision to give the most powerful piece to the woman who was once their enemy, it was Esdeath who spoke first.

"So, I am the most powerful out of everyone here…" Esdeath chuckled, before crossing her arms. "Do you know what this means, Tatsumi?" The young man in question didn't say anything, but Esdeath didn't care. "It means that I don't have to follow you at all. I can simply kill you and everyone else here and earn my freedom." she grinned sadistically, causing everyone else to move away from her and prepare for battle, while Tatsumi remained calm.

"You'd kill Tatsumi just for that?! What happened to your feelings for him, huh?!" Mine glared at Esdeath, who only laughed in response.

"Feelings? Those feelings are nothing compared to my pride!" Esdeath began to flare her icy aura. "I refuse to be a lowly servant in the eyes of many, even if Tatsumi said that he won't treat me as such. Now since I've been welcomed in this house better than what I expected, I'll let you go and I'll be on my way, even if you were my enemies. If any of you get in my way, you'll be killed."

"Seriously? You don't even know this world you're in, where do you think you can possibly go when you leave?" Leone questioned, scowling at the blue-haired woman.

"There's nothing that a few research can't do," Esdesth replied calmly. "I shall study every detail about this new world, and I can go back to the way I was, free to do what I want."

It was at this moment that Tatsumi stepped forward and shook his head. "I wouldn't be too sure about that." he said in a calm voice.

"And why not?" Esdeath created a few icicles that were directed towards Tatsumi. "Are you perhaps saying that you are stronger than I am, Tatsumi?" she narrowed her eyes.

Tatsumi looked to the side. "Apart from that, if you go against me, your king, it will end badly for you."

"And why is that?" Esdeath's tone turned colder, as the icicles flew towards Tatsumi's throat, an inch apart from each other. The other members of his peerage were about to fight back, if only Tatsumi didn't raise his hand to stop them.

"If you go against me, the Underworld and the Four Maou will label you as a stray devil. A stray is a devil who has either killed his master or ran away from his duties as a member of the peerage. Once you are labelled as a stray, the Maou will put a death sentence on your head and hunt you down to kill you. Sure, you can kill every single troop they send to hunt you, there will be a time when the Maou themselves will personally come for you."

"Are you threatening me, Tatsumi?" Esdeath seethed, the icicles inching closer towards the young man's throat.

"No, I'm giving you the freedom to choose." he replied, and Esdeath looked down with a conflicted expression in order to weigh the options in her mind. Before she could however, Tatsumi spoke again. "But if it's 'being free to do what you want' you're talking about, there is a way for you to raise your rank from a low-class into a high-class devil."

This got everyone's attention as Esdeath looked up at him. "What is it?" she asked suspiciously while keeping the icicles close to his neck, wanting to be sure she wasn't being fooled or anything.

"There are three ways that you can raise your ranking. The first is through Contracting, or doing devil jobs by granting the client's wish. I'll explain more of this when I start to receive requests but anyway, the more contracts you complete over time, the higher your points become. This is considered the slowest method of raising your rank. Unless your human customer is someone with great power and influence, the gathering of points is gradual. Second would be Military Accomplishments, but we're way past the time of war to be able to rely on this particular method. Lastly is by doing Rating Games. This is the most popular method in the Devil Society nowadays, because it will also gain you respect from other devils and the opportunity to show off your skills. Rating Games are also a good way to promote and train new powerful devils."

Esdesth crossed her arms. "What is your point, Tatsumi?"

"I'm giving you a choice. You can either walk out the door and be labelled as a stray devil, or you can stay and work hard to get promoted into a mid-class, then eventually high-class devil. Of course, when you become a high-class devil, you gain a set of Evil Pieces like me, and you'll be able to get a peerage of your own. So, what is it going to be?" he asked, waiting for Esdeath's answer.

Everyone else was imagining what it would be like to be a high-class devil, while Esdeath began chuckling to herself. "You make a hard bargain, Tatsumi. Due to my pride, I want to be free from my shackles now and at the same time, I don't feel like dying nor fighting those Great Satans you speak of. From how you described them, they must be insanely powerful." she said, her hair shadowing over her eyes, before the icicles near Tatsumi's throat dissipated into the air.

"But I guess I can work for what I dream," she looked up again with a smirk. "After all, I didn't get the rank of General in the Empire without doing anything. I trust that you'll keep your word about not treating your peerage as real servants?" she raised an eyebrow at Tatsumi.

Tatsumi nodded with a smile. "Don't worry, like I said, let's treat each other like a family. Just be yourself, and you don't need to be a goody-two-shoes woman to raise your rank. I won't think of you as my literal servants, well as long as you don't scare the others off with your ice." he shrugged his shoulders carelessly.

Esdeath shook her head in amusement. "It seems that your care and concern for your friends is something that hasn't grown old with time."

"Yes, but that includes you now since you are my Queen." he smirked, and as he had hoped, Esdeath grew a light blush on her face before looking to the side in slight embarrassment.

"Shut it or I end you," she muttered, and Tatsumi only chuckled in response.

He took a deep breath and moved away from everyone else, so that he was standing in front of them. "I guess that covers it all for now," he announced. "I'm going to take a bath so you're free to do whatever you want. Go train down here, watch TV upstairs, read a book or even eat, it's up to you. If you do train here, don't be afraid to go all out because this room is enchanted with a barrier that can absorb damage. It's still just midway through the afternoon, we can talk some more in the evening if you want." He then turned around and started to walk away. "I'll be taking a bath if anybody needs me!" he waved his hand goodbye.

The others watched him walk out the door silently, as the entire training hall went quiet for the next few moments.

"I'll be training here then." Bulat said, breaking the silence, flexing his arms as he went over to the training dummies. "I can't wait to test out my strength!"

"I'll go catch up on some sleep, I guess." Lubbock said as he yawned, walking towards the door. "All that talk about supernatural stuff made me sleepy…"

Meanwhile, the girls were left at their spot, looking at the door, with some of them unknowingly having the same thing on their minds.

* * *

"Ahh~ it feels good to have a long soak after all of that~" Tatsumi said to himself as he dipped his body down the water even more, with his arms dangling off the edges of the tub. He had a cold towel on top of his forehead, further helping him to relax.

"This day went better than what I expected… Esdeath wasn't as destructive as I thought she'd be, and everyone else was too preoccupied with the situation they were in to care about her. But on the other hand, Esdeath wasn't looking forward to being a servant, that's something I expected from her at the very least."

He took a bar of soap from the nearby rack and started to wash his arms. "Later tonight, I think I'll teach them more about the new world… the supernatural stuff can wait until tomorrow, they need a break from it. Plus, we also have to go to the Boss's memorial… I just hope nothing goes wrong along the way…"

"Aww, well isn't that very sweet of you, Tatsumi~?"

Tatsumi almost jumped out of the bath in surprise at hearing a new voice inside the bathroom, but it did manage to snap him out of his thoughts since some water got into his eyes. Hearing a seductive giggle from the other end of the tub, he rubbed his eyes to be able to see clearly again. His eyes then widened upon seeing a familiar blonde-haired woman at the opposite side of the tub.

"Hiya, Tatsumi." Leone grinned in a seductive way, before leaning back to let herself relax, giving Tatsumi a clear view of her large breasts and pink nipples.

"L-Leone?" Tatsumi could only mumble as his face turned bright red in embarrassment.

* * *

_**Ooh, what's going to happen in the bath? I wonder… :)**_

_**Tatsumi's peerage:**_

_**King: Tatsumi**_

_**Queen: Esdeath**_

_**Bishop: Mine**_

_**Bishop: Lubbock**_

_**Rook: Leone**_

_**Rook: Bulat**_

_**Knight: Akame**_

_**Knight: Kurome**_

_**Pawn (4x): Chelsea**_

_**Pawn (4x): Sheele**_

_**Goodbye… and good night! BANG! *too sweet gesture***_

_**-Lance**_


	7. Trouble in the Bath

_**Thestorm4: No they didn't have sex or whatever. I used the anime ending for their relationship here; she died in his arms and kissed him before passing away. Tatsumi didn't turn into a dragon either.**_

_**Heaven Ascension DIO: Trust me, I've already figured out how did sacred gears turn into teigus. Just wait for it.**_

_**For the last time, there is no Sayo and Ieyasu here in this fanfic. They died hundreds of years ago. They are not devils or supernatural beings. They're just humans and Tatsumi manipulated their memories into thinking he was their childhood friends.**_

_**Disclaimer: I don't own Akame ga Kill, Highschool DxD or any of its characters…**_

* * *

"The one and only!" she grinned while waving her arm, causing Tatsumi to turn away with a beet red face, some steam blowing out of his ears. Okay, first of all, what was Leone doing here?! He did say that he was going to take a bath, right? Did she somehow forget that he was here?

No, no, that's impossible.

Well, since that was out of the way…

WHY WAS SHE IN THE TUB WITH HIM?!

He continued to look away so he could avoid staring at her huge assets. "L-Leone, I… I can sort of… s-see them…" he emphasized the last word to make sure that she knew what he was talking about. Not only was she in the bath with him, but she was also naked! Well yeah, people _are_ supposed to be naked while taking a bath, but that wasn't the case!

"What, you mean these?" Leone smirked and squeezed her boobs together, before leaning closer that her nipples were so dangerously close to his face.

Tatsumi shut his eyes tight so he could avoid the urge to stare, since that would be so wrong, and he wasn't like Lubbock. Okay, maybe he was a bit perverted but not as _extreme_ as that green-haired buddy of his! He knew how to control his urges, of course!

"Urgh, why are you even here?" he groaned, opening his eyes a bit so he could look at her face. "I remember telling everyone that I was going to take a bath, so it's impossible for you to want to take a bath at the same time."

"Maybe I just wanted to be alone with you, Tatsumi~" she cooed, not moving from her position which only caused the young man to narrow his eyes at her.

"I can tell that's not the reason why you're here," he told her in a serious tone. "You want to talk to me about something, correct?"

"All right, you caught me." she said, throwing her arms up in defeat before leaning back against the opposite end of the tub. "I shouldn't have thought that you weren't that aware of your surroundings, because you're a devil now. But it was really fun to tease you back then, and it know you liked it too… somewhat."

"That's what you get when you spend hundreds of years in the human world, learning about new things everyday." he shrugged his shoulders, before relaxing back into his place in the tub. "So what did you want to talk about? Is this about your teigu being infused with your body or something personal?"

Leone looked at him in surprise. "How did you know I wanted to talk about **Lionelle**?" she asked in curiosity.

"I just know beforehand that the thought of your body being back to its normal appearance despite fusing with your teigu can be confusing." he said, before handing the soap to the blonde woman, who slowly took it from him and began to lather it across her skin. "So, do you want me to tell you about it?"

She thought about it for a second before shaking her head with a sad smile. "Nah, it can wait. You're going to explain about that issue with the teigus anyway, and I trust you that you do." she said, looking to the side before staring into Tatsumi's green orbs afterwards.

"Wow… I never expected that from you." he said, rubbing the back of his head. "Look, if you really want to find out now, I don't mind telling it. Just say the word, Leone."

"Thanks but no thanks," she shook her head. "Maybe you're right earlier… I think my head's gonna hurt when I hear another explanation from you. Plus, I'm in the bath, where I'm supposed to be relaxing and not the place to get all confused and shocked with what you have to say." Leone shot him a look, and Tatsumi only looked down to avoid her gaze. "Anyway, I have something more personal in mind. Since you're my master, I think you deserve to be the one to hear me out." she said in a sincere tone, with no sign of teasing or being husky in her voice. She was being serious.

"Sure, tell me whatever you want. I'm listening." he nodded his head in understanding, and Leone smiled in gratitude.

"Thanks," she then took a deep breath. "Okay… uhm, uh, I don't know how to say this but… I don't think I'm cut out for this." she admitted, but upon noticing the confused look on Tatsumi's face, she decided to continue. "I mean, I'm grateful and… I couldn't be more happier that you brought me back to life… that you brought all of us back to life, because you love us too much and you want us to have a second chance. But now, I can't help but think…" she trailed off, splashing water to her arms and face.

"Think about what?" he asked.

"Do I really deserve this?" she hardened her gaze after her question. "Do we really deserve this? I get that you want us to have a second chance but… you can't erase the fact that we were bad people too, Tatsumi. The world can fast forward 500 years later, but it can't change what's history, and history says that Night Raid is a group of assassins who are out to kill people."

"Everyone deserves a second chance, Leone." he tried to use common sense to answer her problem, but it only caused her to laugh sarcastically.

"You're going to use that logic on me? Well it's not gonna work, big boy. Maybe it's because that you're different from us, that you can't understand what I feel right now." she said haughtily, crossing her arms under her chest.

He frowned a bit, before sighing. "If it makes you feel better, at least you weren't reincarnated as an angel, because that would be a really different story."

"What do you mean?"

"Remember what I said? Angels are the loyal followers of God, and they are known to be pure and free from sin. If there was a case that you were brought back to life as one of them, you'd feel the same way as you are right now, or maybe even worse." Leone frowned as she heard him speak, while thinking deeply about what he was saying at the same time. "You won't be able to stop questioning yourself if you were really fit to be one of them, especially with what you've done in the past." She looked down, unable to answer him now. "But being a devil saves you from that fate."

"How exactly?" she looked up at him again.

He looked to the side as well. "A devil is commonly known for being a sinful creature. In the eyes of humans, we're evil beings who must be eliminated for the good of many."

"You're gonna have to elaborate a lot better than that, because that _really_ helped…" Leone sighed as she shook her head.

"All right, take me for an example." he pointed to himself, causing Leone to direct her gaze towards him. "I'm a pure-blooded devil, unlike you and the others. I've done horrible things in the past, apart from being an assassin alongside you and the rest of Night Raid. I've manipulated memories, made Sayo and Ieyasu think that I was their childhood friend, and more than that. But here I am right now, completely fine with whatever happened in the past." It was at this point that Leone's eyes began to slowly widen. "It's not unnatural for a devil to kill, lie, be selfish, greedy, succumb to lust, or whatever sin you think of. Of course, all of those depend on what situation you're in. However, all I'm saying is that nobody will think of you as a murderer." Tatsumi then moved from his place and leaned over towards Leone.

In a rare moment of embarrassment, Leone's cheeks reddened when Tatsumi brushed his hand over her hair, making it wet, as he smiled. "Because we're all murderers, in the past, present, or whatever. Point is, we're in this together, Leone. We've all been bad people at some point in our lives. Don't forget that." He ruffled her hair slightly before leaning back to his end of the tub, satisfied with the smile that was starting to form on her face.

"I…" she began, unsure of what she should say. It took her a few moments to get over the embarrassment she felt, flashing a grateful smile afterwards. "Thanks, Tatsumi… I… needed that…"

He closed his eyes and let out a sigh of relief. "I'm glad to help," he smiled. "After all, I'm supposed to take care of my whole peerage. How can I even call myself your king if I can't come up with a solution to your problem?" He took a deep breath afterwards. "All of you are my responsibility now, and I've prepared myself for this."

"So, it's your job to take care of us, huh~?"

"Yeah, of course, I'm your master so—" he opened his eyes, only for him to stop in his words when he saw Leone leaning towards him again, this time she had him literally cornered with her arms on either side of him. She had a mischievous glint in her eyes as well as a sultry look on her face, meaning that she was up to something. "W-What are you trying to do now?" his breath hitched, embarrassed at how close they were to each other.

"You helped me Tatsumi, and now I think you deserve a little reward for your actions~" she asked, causing a confused look to form on the man's face. "Well aren't you as dense as ever?" she said in an amused tone, before straddling his hips with her butt resting on top of his thighs. "Think of it this way. Let's say I'm a really hot and rich cutie and you helped me out when I'm having a problem of my own, what do you think you get as a reward~?"

Tatsumi blushed as he realized what she was referring to. Even after 500 years of venturing both the human world and the Underworld, he was still a virgin, so he had no idea how to properly act in these kinds of situations, at least not to the point of sex. Not to mention that he had always been a bit dense regarding girls.

"No, th-that won't be really necessary, Leone. Go back to taking a bath and I'll be minding my own business." he said with a nervous smile, but it only caused Leone to chuckle seductively, as she forcefully turned his head to face her.

"Oh, stop being a pussy for once and just focus on what's in front of you, Tatsumi." Tatsumi could only watch with a gaping look as Leone closed her eyes and leaned in close, her lips inches away from his.

"You shouldn't keep all the man-meat to yourself, Leone~ I want a piece of him too~" Another voice said, as Tatsumi felt a pair of arms wrap around his neck from behind before he got pulled against another girl's naked chest.

Wait… girl?

Tatsumi looked up and he immediately saw a familiar auburn-haired assassin with a lollipop inside her mouth as always, while the side of her lips had curled into a sultry smile and her eyes gave off a sexy vibe to her overall look.

"C-Chelsea?" he said as steam blew out of his ears, too shocked and embarrassed to come up with anything else.

Chelsea, who was standing behind him, fully naked as well, grinned as she pulled the back of his head even more against her mounds, both of which were not that big nor small yet they suited her to perfection. "Heya, Tatsumi! Bet you didn't expect me to be here, did ya, _my king_?" she said in a cheerful tone, using the same words she used to tease him with earlier.

"W-What are you doing here?" If anything, he sounded scared because of what happened in the past. Up until now, he hadn't forgotten how he she threatened to cut off his balls if he ever tried to peek on her again, despite the fact that he was way powerful than her in every category.

It's just, from experience with his parents, he had learned that one must _never_ go against a woman who was pissed off.

"Well, since you said you were taking a bath, I figured maybe I could help you with it~" she said in the same seductive tone that Leone had earlier while a small blush could also be seen on her face. "Plus I've been wanting to have a long hot bath since this morning, but I just didn't know where to go exactly, but now I do. Maybe you could help me with my bath as well, Tatsumi~" she suggested, causing more blood to drip down the young man's nose.

"Hey Chelsea, I had him first here so I get to help him with his bath." Leone said with a little frown, placing her hands on her hips.

"Sorry, but this bath belongs to all of us if I recall, so I have a claim on whatever you think is yours." Chelsea smiled sweetly, resting her chin on top of Tatsumi's head.

While the two girls were arguing over Tatsumi, the man himself was having an internal struggle of his own.

First Leone, now Chelsea?

Why were they even here?! Was it seriously for his sake or were they just teasing him around like they always do?! Did they not understand that he simply wanted to take a bath? He had dealt with Leone's problem earlier but it looks like it wasn't dealt with at all. Wait but if they were really just going to tease him, then why did Leone look like she was going to kiss him a while ago? Was it for real or not? And why was Chelsea naked around him? Didn't she threaten him about— argh, this was getting really awkward with every passing second!

He was then brought out of his thoughts when he was suddenly pulled once again, this time going forward until his face met another pair of breasts, albeit bigger.

His eyes widened and his face reddened upon noticing that Leone's arms had been wrapped around his neck as she pulled him even closer to her chest, before noticing the fierce look in her eyes but not the blush that also appeared on her cheeks.

"How do they feel, Tatsumi~? Better than Chelsea's?" she asked him, although he wasn't able to give a proper answer because her massive breasts were slowly starting to cut off his air.

"He's obviously gonna choose me if you continue to suffocate him that way," Chelsea smirked as she took Leone's hold off of Tatsumi before pulling him back as hers. "Come on big boy, you should feel mine inste—" she stopped in her words when Tatsumi broke free of her grasp and raised his arms as if he was keeping the two girls away from him.

"Okay, that's enough!" he panted, not wanting to be caught in between their, competition or whatever you want to call it. "I don't know what game are you two playing on me, but can't you leave me out of it? I just wanted to take a bath peacefully, if you must know!"

"Game?" Leone deadpanned, before she scratched the top of her head. "You can't be _that_ dense, Tatsumi…"

"What game are you talking about? We're fighting for you here…" Chelsea sweat-dropped, before waving her hand in front of her as if she was trying to snap to reality.

"I don't want to hear any more of it!" he quickly dismissed their statements, brushing off what they were trying to say.

Leone and Chelsea sent each other confused glances. Was something wrong with Tatsumi or something?

"The two of you should stop bothering Tatsumi," a new voice said, coming from beside the tub. "Can you not take a bath in peace and leave him alone?"

Tatsumi sighed in relief, his face returning to its normal state. At least someone was concerned enough to care about how embarrassed he was feeling at the moment. Deciding to give his thanks to his unknown savior, he turned his head to the side only to be met with another familiar face.

"You saved me right there," he suddenly stopped speaking upon seeing Akame's naked form before him, and yes, he could see everything. Her flawless skin [there were a few red marks across her body due to **Murasame's** trump card, but it didn't hinder her overall beauty], her full round breasts all the way down to her nether regions and legs. "A-Akame…" his face darkened once again, while also fearing for his own life.

This was bad.

Really bad.

If there was anyone in Night Raid whom he didn't want to intentionally piss off, it would definitely be Akame. And now, he did just that.

Yep, he was screwed.

"I-Is there a problem, Tatsumi?" she said in her usual monotone voice, although a slight blush could be seen on her cheeks if looked at closely.

This was it. He was done. Because of just being in the presence of three naked ladies, his own friends nonetheless, his mind began to slow down due to sheer embarrassment and confusion. Why would they take a bath there if they knew he was still there? Why were they acting this way towards him? And WHY were they so calm in being naked with a guy like him?! Those were questions for another time though, because his mind had completely shut down.

With a lone cry of "Tatsumi!" from Akame, Tatsumi fainted inside the tub. The red-eyed assassin was ready to carry him out of there and try to resuscitate him, when Chelsea held out her hand to stop her.

"Don't fret," she said calmly. "He just fainted, nothing serious."

"So you're going to leave him alone like this?" Akame replied.

Chelsea shrugged her shoulders before standing upright, and sending another glance at the unconscious king. "Yeah, he'll wake up sooner or later. Nothing to worry about. Let's leave him alone until he wakes up."

"You're right, I can't take a bath properly if the guy whom I was hoping to wash my back is out of it." Leone sighed, getting off the tub. "I'll just do it myself then."

Although she was a bit reluctant to leave, Akame nodded and proceeded towards the large onsen at the center of the room, submerging herself in the hot water. "I was too focused on my mission back then to enjoy the wonders of life, but now it seems that I can…" she mumbled to herself, letting out a deep sigh of relief.

"Wow, I never thought I'd see the day that Akame would take her mind off killing for once. Just look at how contented she looks," Leone whistled, before pointing towards her friend relaxing in the onsen.

"Not to mention, she and her sister were really focused on digesting their food earlier." Chelsea shrugged again, before she started to drool at the relaxing steam from the onsen that she felt all the way from where she was. "Anyway, I'm gonna go ahead and jump into that hot water!" she said gleefully, rushing over to the onsen to enjoy some relaxation as well.

Leone smiled and was about to follow as well, just as she heard a couple of footsteps behind her. Turning around, she saw Sheele and Mine standing just beside the tub where Tatsumi was. Both of them were already stripped down into their birthday suits, and while Sheele looked as confused as ever, Mine was extremely embarrassed for a reason.

"Oh, it's just you two." Leone grinned, placing her hands on her hips. "Gonna join in with us?"

"Ano…" Sheele muttered, leaning over towards Tatsumi's unconscious form with a confused look. "Is Tatsumi okay? What happened to him?"

"Just leave him alone Sheele and join the others over there." Leone said, pointing to the onsen where Akame and Chelsea were having a good soak. Sheele nodded and stood upright, before starting to walk towards her destination, only to slip and fall to the floor, losing her glasses in the process.

"Oh no, my glasses!" she cried, looking frantically for her glasses. "W-Where are they?"

"Good grief," Leone sighed as she helped out her friend.

"I-I-Is it r-really okay to… take a bath…" Mine's face turned bright red as she covered her breasts and private regions with her arms. "W-W-With h-him around?" she stuttered, shooting a glance at Tatsumi.

Leone chuckled at Mine's embarrassment but she wasn't going to have any of it. Despite Mine's protests, she began pulling her towards the onsen with a toothy grin on her face. "He's out of it anyway, so just get in there and relax for once! You deserve it, Mine! Unless you want to get in the tub with him, that is~" she teased, causing Mine to have steam coming out of her ears and start blurting out random words.

Once all the girls were in the onsen enjoying the steamy hot water, it was at that moment that Tatsumi finally woke up. The first thing he saw was his whole peerage of girls, except for Esdeath and Kurome, were taking a bath altogether at the large onsen in the room. He was about to faint again at thought of all of them being naked with him, but he managed to stay awake by punching himself in the face. Wanting not to disturb their peaceful time nor get seen, he snuck out of his tub, grabbed his towel, and quietly walked out of the room. It was a good thing that they were distracted though, otherwise they would've seen him.

Despite that, Tatsumi himself wasn't able to take a bath like what he wanted and was forced to compromise so as not to create any more trouble. Oh well, he still had his own bathroom upstairs, right? He could just go and bathe there, correct?

Passing by the living room, he saw Lubbock passed out on the couch with a book covering his face. "That means Bulat is still training downstairs, then." he thought to himself. He also saw Kurome in the kitchen with several jar of candies before her, looking like she was focused on eating them all, causing Tatsumi to shake his head in amusement.

He proceeded upstairs towards the bathroom that was just beside his own room and opened the door, only to be met yet again with a sight that nearly caused him to double over and trip.

Esdeath was inside, fully naked and was taking a bath of her own when Tatsumi opened the door all of a sudden. She wasn't embarrassed or even shocked at all that someone just walked in on her, it just caught her off guard. The embarrassment and shock went to Tatsumi instead, being greeted with the sight of his own Queen stark naked before him. Despite all that they had went through in the past, this was the first time he saw her in the nude.

"Tatsumi?" she asked, just as she was about to turn off the shower.

Tatsumi pinched his nose to prevent another nosebleed as he was desperate to avoid staring at Esdeath's voluptuous breasts and plump ass. His face already grew red as he closed his eyes to get the bluenette's body off his mind.

"I'M SORRY!" he cried, bolting off to his bedroom and closing the door behind him immediately, leaving behind a confused Esdeath still in the shower.

Tatsumi quickly sat down on the bed, trying to get himself back together. Earlier, he was so mature and composed while explaining things to his peerage, SO WHY WAS THIS HAPPENING? Wait, it wasn't even his fault in the first place… Leone started it when she sneaked into the bathhouse and went inside his tub! It just went all downhill after that moment! Well yeah, she was having a bit of a problem with her newly reincarnated self but he quickly resolved it and what happened afterwards? She decides to tease him again by nearly kissing him and then Chelsea shows up all of a sudden. Oh, but that wasn't it! Those two then began acting playful with back and forth for who-knows-why, and that was the last thing he remembered before he lost consciousness. And that still didn't stop there, no sir. The moment he woke up, he was met with —

Tatsumi was broken out of his thoughts all of a sudden when he got tackled onto the bed by an unknown force, catching him off guard and due to that, he wasn't able to fight back.

Getting a good look at his attacker, his face couldn't get any more redder and his eyes wider when he found himself staring into Esdeath's cold blue eyes. Her hair was still wet due to taking a shower earlier, and what's more, she was still unclothed and now she was on top of him in all her naked glory.

"Esdeath, w-what are you doing?" he squeaked out, quickly pinching his nose to prevent a nosebleed as soon as he looked at her body.

"My, I didn't know you had such bad manners Tatsumi~" she smirked at his fearful expression and brought her face closer to his, causing him to sweat in nervousness. "When you walk in on a woman taking a shower, you don't run away like a coward, Tatsumi. You face it head on like a hunter out for prey. You should know that since you are the king."

"I-I don't know what you're talking about…" he said innocently, but it only caused Esdeath to chuckle in amusement.

"Silly boy, you could've joined me earlier in the shower, I wouldn't mind at all." she smiled lustfully at him, before bringing her lips so dangerously close to his that they were almost kissing. Tatsumi let out a little yelp when Esdeath snaked a hand to his towel, before ripping it off him in one motion. "We could've taken a bath together and have some fun, what do you say if we head there now? It's just next to this room~"

"W-What happened to you?" he asked, trying to steer the topic away from… _lewd_ things. Oh how things have changed. Earlier, his comrades were having trouble taking information in and now he was having trouble with the women of his peerage being all naked around him and teasing him as well! "Earlier you were to fight me but now you're acting completely different… like you're back to your old self."

"I know when to have fun and not. You know as well as I do that I can't let go of you," she simply replied before almost bringing their lips together in a kiss, only for Esdeath to stop as they exchanged hot breaths between them, sensing another presence by the doorway.

Esdeath looked extremely annoyed as she looked up. "I swear the one who has the audacity to stop me from my —" she turned towards the door, just to see one of her former subordinates staring at her and Tatsumi as she ate her candies from another small jar. She raised an eyebrow in curiosity, wondering why she showed herself now out of all times. "Kurome."

"General _*munch*_." she responded in a monotone voice much like her sister's, as she stared at the scene in front of her with attention.

"What are you doing here?" Esdeath stated through narrow eyes, more concerned with why Kurome had to disturb her time with Tatsumi than the fact that she was naked before her former subordinate.

"I was going to ask Tatsumi-nii if he has some more candy around the house since this jar was the last, but it looks like he's busy with you for now, general. I'll wait until you two are done." she replied, and Tatsumi looked at her in shock. Damn, if this was the rate in which she can eat candies, he'd need to buy more than what he already provided in advance.

"You refer to him as a brother now?" Esdeath quirked an eyebrow in interest, and she nodded. "What brought this on? I'd have thought you only consider one person as your family, and that would be Akame."

"It was only Big Sis who would buy me candies back then, but since Tatsumi-nii did the same as she did, he's family to me now." she said in a neutral tone, although Tatsumi felt proud of himself for showing that he did care for everyone in his peerage.

"I see." Esdeath glanced back towards Tatsumi, who remained silent under her gaze. "And I suppose you are fine with your brother and I being like this?"

Kurome shook her head. "No, I know you love him general."

Esdeath smirked. "Good, then help me restrain Tatsumi so I can have my way with him." she said with a lustful grin, causing the young man below to widen his eyes to the point that they nearly popped out of his sockets.

"WHAT?!"

"Okay," she nodded without any hesitation.

"HUH?!"

Tatsumi could only watch as Esdeath sent him a suggestive wink, and he could only keep to his thoughts on how he can possibly escape his queen's clutches. But wow, to think he was supposed to be in charge of keeping his peerage in line and proper…

It was then that Kurome began removing her clothes slowly, one by one, before folding and neatly placing them on the floor, catching both Esdeath and Tatsumi off guard. Of course, she placed her jar of sweets beside her clothes and not long after that, the cute and petite raven-haired girl was left naked just like her former and current superior.

"Why did you undress yourself?" Esdeath asked, sweat-dropping while Tatsumi couldn't take it and some blood burst out of his nose. What the hell was going on, he's been seeing naked girls all afternoon, and they were all a part of his peerage nonetheless.

"You were both naked so I did what I thought would be most appropriate." Kurome lowered her head slightly and put her arms behind her back, her petite breasts coming into view. If one could describe her, she'd be what the people call nowadays a 'loli', but that would be a story for another time. "I-Is it okay for me to continue like this?" she asked with a slight tone of embarrassment in her tone.

Esdeath slightly narrowed her eyes; this might be a way to mask her true intentions. Who knows, Kurome might have unknowingly developed an attachment to Tatsumi, and that's why she stripped herself before them both, but when she turned her attention to the man below her, she saw him shaking his head furiously. Knowing what he meant, Esdeath flashed an even wider smirk; it would be fun to tease him just like in the past.

"No, proceed in how you wish to, Kurome." Esdeath told her, and the young girl nodded in response. "Now help me keep him at bay." Kurome nodded once again, and began to walk towards the bed.

_"FUCK!"_ Tatsumi thought as he watched Kurome approach them. He knew he had to escape this, because it was obvious all hell would break loose should Akame and the others see them like this. He may be dense, but he was aware that Esdeath had feelings for him [at least this was made clear way back compared to the other women who felt the same way for him] and because of that, his peerage might not be in line under his leadership. He had to act like a proper king for his peerage members, not the same Tatsumi who could be easily swayed by things like this.

Noticing that his right arm was free, he silently waved it so that Esdeath wouldn't notice, causing one of his alternate dimensions to form beside him in the form of a black magic circle; the same dimension that he used to put his peerage in a deep slumber for many years.

Kurome suddenly stopped in her tracks when she noticed Tatsumi was already gone from under Esdeath. "General, Tatsumi-nii is gone." she pointed out, causing the bluenette to raise an eyebrow and look under her, but she only managed to catch the disappearing magic circle and after that, nothing more.

Esdeath let out a chuckle of amusement, before getting off of the bed. "It appears that he used one of those alternate dimensions he was talking about earlier in order to escape. A smart move."

"Do you want to wait for him, general?" Kurome asked, not moving from her place.

Esdeath shook her head, still looking amused with how things were going in this new world. "There's no need. I was simply teasing him like how I used to." She then turned towards Kurome. "Dress yourself up Kurome, your sister is gonna have a field day when she sees you in that state here in this room." she walked past the raven-haired girl and went towards one of the cabinets that was labelled 'Esdeath'. "Unless you wish to take a bath as well, since I'm already finished. It feels relaxing and fresh."

Kurome nodded, picking up her clothes and her jar of candies, before heading to the bathroom next to this. Now a nice hot bath sounds good, doesn't it?

As Kurome left, Esdeath had opened the cabinet that had her name on it, and she smirked at all the clothes that were folded and prepared to use. "_He really thought this out in advance…"_ she said to herself, before putting on her underwear, a simple shorts and shirt. _"He intrigues me… he seems more mature than he was back then, yet retained some of his old traits like his embarrassment and concern for those he cares about… while I work to achieve that high-class status he speaks of, I think I'll have some fun with this new Tatsumi."_

About an hour later, the whole peerage was gathered in the living room, each having their own business to mind. They were waiting for their king to return, who had disappeared an hour ago due to 'extreme embarrassment from seeing beautiful girls naked' according to Esdeath, causing Lubbock to faint with a massive nosebleed, while also cursing Tatsumi's luck. Chelsea and Leone felt responsible for starting all of it, and they couldn't help but regret following Tatsumi while he was taking a bath.

While Akame suggested to go on a search for him, Esdeath surprisingly fulfilled her role of being the Queen of Tatsumi's peerage by keeping them in line and gathered in the living room instead, saying that their leader didn't run away per se, only escaping through one of his alternate dimensions. Akame didn't sit well with the fact that Esdeath was technically Tatsumi's second-in-command, but Leone and Mine told her to give it a rest since she had a point.

And just like that, Tatsumi arrived at the living room, fresh from the bath while still drying his hair. All of his peerage members stared at him blankly and he could only say "What?" as a response, before getting tackled to the ground by Chelsea, Leone, and Akame since they felt they were the most responsible for him disappearing. Well, he did faint after seeing the three of them naked. Sheele didn't know what was happening but imitated what the others did and came flying towards Tatsumi, his face getting buried in the her massive breasts as a result.

Esdeath, Lubbock and Bulat couldn't help but chuckle at them and even Kurome smiled at her sister's odd ways of showing affection. Mine was fuming in jealousy and instead of joining her friends, she helped Tatsumi get off of them to which he thanked her afterwards, causing the pinkette to blush and revert back to her usual tsundere responses. Although Esdeath herself wanted to tackle her king to the ground as well, she kept herself composed, knowing that she had her moment with him earlier and she was sure as hell it wouldn't be the last.

Leone and Chelsea then apologized to him, followed by Akame, but Tatsumi waved it all off and said it was okay, causing all three girls to smile. He truly cared for them as much as he did back then. Although he did say to them to tell him in advance if they were going to take a bath with him around, that way, he'd be less embarrassed and more aware but Esdeath answered that for him, saying "No promises" while also winking playfully.

Tatsumi shook his head in amusement before he went on to explain more about this new modern world in which they were in, instead of further going on about supernatural stuff. He explained things from the modern technology, education systems, government, and even the forms of entertainment [Leone asked for this], although he didn't go too much into detail, since he wanted them to experience everything on their own. It was a good way to satisfy their curiosity and when dinner came that night, he told them that they'd be going somewhere important after they visit Najenda's memorial tomorrow, and Tatsumi smiled upon seeing his whole peerage nod in unison.

When the time came for them to finally hit the sack, Tatsumi each showed them their rooms on the third floor of his residence. This upset a few of the girls, since Tatsumi's bedroom was one floor down, which included Leone, Mine, and Chelsea. Of course, he was oblivious to it. All but Akame and Kurome had their own personal quarters, since the two were siblings after all, it's not a problem if they shared a bedroom, and they did.

After all of his peerage members had gone into their own rooms, Esdeath was the only one left. Once they had reached her bedroom at the farthest one down the hall, he opened the door for her but she didn't go inside immediately, as she stopped by the doorway facing Tatsumi.

"Is there something you need, Esdeath?" he asked, wondering why she didn't head inside yet. Wasn't she tired of everything that happened today?

"You've caught my interest, Tatsumi." she replied with a small smirk.

He quirked an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"Earlier, while I pinned you to the bed, it felt as if your old self was back but now…" she eyed him up and down. "You're all serious and mature again, just like this morning."

Tatsumi shrugged. "What do you expect? A king should act proper and be mature in order to be a good leader of his peerage. I can't fulfill my role if I continue acting the same way as I did in the past. There's an appropriate time to be all embarrassed and bashful like I was earlier, but it's not always gonna be like that."

She smirked and leaned closer to him that he could see her black bra underneath her shirt. "But what if I do this~?" she asked in a sultry voice.

He sighed and looked to the side. "Don't try me. Now get inside and go to sleep. We have to get up early tomorrow to visit the Boss." he told her, although a small blush could still be seen on his cheeks.

Esdeath knew that she won now. "Let me see that embarrassed look of yours one more time before I go to sleep then~"

"Stop with the games and go to sleep already," he rolled his eyes and shook his head in denial.

"Let me see it, or I'll sneak into your bed tonight and have my fun." she challenged, her smirk growing wider.

Tatsumi slammed his hand towards his forehead. Looks like he'll have to use his authority over her to make her do what he wants then. "I told you that—?!" his eyes snapped wide open when Esdeath lunged forward and captured his lips with her own, and she took advantage by pulling Tatsumi inside her room so that nobody would see them.

Once inside, Esdeath hugged his body close to hers, pushing more of her tongue into his mouth. Tatsumi could only watch with wide eyes she continued to kiss him, and his arms couldn't even do anything. He was even too shocked to force her to stop, leaving the only thing left for him to do was to fight back using his tongue. But even so, Esdeath was already over him with her inexperienced tongue, leaving him defeated against her kiss that happened all of a sudden.

After about twenty seconds of exploring Tatsumi's mouth with her tongue, Esdeath pulled back with a massive blush on her face, looking to the side. The kiss left her slightly panting, since she exerted more energy than him, meaning that it was one-sided. This was only the 3rd time that they kissed, yet she felt like this could be her most favorite out of all of them. Being able to kiss Tatsumi like that… felt… _heavenly._

Ironic for a devil like her.

Meanwhile, Tatsumi just stood there blankly, with his hair covering his eyes. It was like he was completely frozen with what Esdeath just did.

Snapping back to reality, her smirk returned as she turned back towards her king. "Now Tatsumi, let me see your — MMPPFF!" this time, her eyes widened when Tatsumi was the one who lunged forward and pressed his lips to hers. Before she could even comprehend the fact that Tatsumi kissed her, the young man had pulled away just after mere seconds of their lips joining together.

Esdeath was completely frozen in place as a result, with her eyes as wide as dinner plates, completely turning the tables against her. Slowly, her fingers reached up to touch her lips, before looking up at Tatsumi. "Y-You —!" before she could even make a complete sentence, Tatsumi had pushed her towards the nearest wall harshly.

Before she could do anything, Tatsumi had captured her lips again in a kiss; Esdeath's thoughts had begun to go in circles, forgetting what she wanted from him in the first place. Deciding to just go with the flow and follow her instincts, she began to kiss him back, but Tatsumi had already dominated her mouth with his own, leaving her at his mercy.

The blush on her face became worse when Tatsumi slipped her shirt off her shoulders, her black bra coming into view. Grabbing his shoulders, she tried to push him away from her. "T-Tatsumi!" she tried to say, but he immediately closed her mouth with his lips again. His other free hand gave a squeeze to her breast, making her moan into his mouth. All signs of the Tatsumi from earlier seemed to disappear, and he was just similar to a hungry animal now, wanting to taste more of Esdeath's lips.

Esdeath was beginning to lose it, and that was when she decided to give up and wrap her arms around his neck in order to deepen her kiss with the man she loved. However, the moment she laid her arms on his neck, his hands moved so quick that the bluenette almost didn't know what he did. His left hand had pinned both of her arms together above her head, leaving her more vulnerable to him. She widened her eyes even more, unable to believe that Tatsumi was this aggressive. Has he always been like this?

Due to her shock, her tongue continued to lose against his and he continued to explore her mouth with his own. By this point, Esdeath was beginning to lose her state of mind, and she simply closed her eyes to let this moment linger on forever. Forget gaining her freedom, forget gaining a peerage of her own… the feeling of Tatsumi's lips on hers, the feeling of their bodies pressed together… was _way better_…

Tatsumi's hand snaked down towards her shorts and pulled it down slightly along with her black panties, giving her ass a good squeeze that got Esdeath to snap her eyes open once again. To further exert his dominance, Tatsumi gave a slap to her exposed bottom, making Esdeath moan loudly into his mouth. He kept on kissing her as his hand continued to travel down towards her leg, forcing her to hook it around his waist and she did.

Finally, after half a minute of making out against the wall, Tatsumi had pulled away from her mouth a trail of spit connecting them. Esdeath was left panting afterwards, feeling as if that particular kiss took a large toll out of her.

"W-What has… gotten into you?" she panted, looking up at Tatsumi who still had his hair covering his eyes. She wasn't angry about what happened and if anything, she was more curious than ever. Since when was he so aggressive and straightforward just like a while ago?

Never would she have thought that Tatsumi would have the guts to push her against the wall and eat her out like an animal, while feeling her up all at the same time.

And he never showed any signs of that earlier, did he?

Tatsumi looked up at Esdeath, and their gazes met. The former general could've sworn that his pupils had become slits and his eyes were orange in color. He was also panting in exhaustion, but not as much as her.

"I told you to stop with your games, didn't I?" he said, his voice having some kind of a beastly tone behind it. "Underneath your mature king and embarrassed Tatsumi, there's a beast just waiting to be unleashed." he continued, flashing her a smirk of his own. "Trust me, you don't want that, Esdeath… for now, at least."

Esdeath could only stare at him with a blank look as his eyes began to return to normal. Tatsumi sighed as he walked towards the door, but not before sending one last look towards the bluenette.

"Now go to sleep. You've had enough for a day." he walked out of her room, leaving Esdeath still frozen where he left her. "Good night," he said and despite the wall separating them, she could still hear his voice, albeit barely.

Once she felt that Tatsumi was truly gone, Esdeath shook her head furiously to get herself back on track. Looking down, she noticed how her clothes were slightly ruined by what transpired between her and Tatsumi, causing her to blush heavily. Her face became completely red when she felt her panties were damp with her own fluids, indicating that she had been turned on with that makeout session just a while ago, especially when he was touching her body.

She tried to look at her backside, noticing a light red handprint on her skin; when he spanked her earlier, it didn't really hurt, and it actually turned her on! It was like she needed it! Esdeath couldn't explain it, but it was like, everything that he did to her; pinning her arms to the wall, squeezing her breast, slapping her butt, it just felt so… _right._

And _she_ was the one who loved to give punishments and torture!

Wait, wait, wait, wait.

Something seems off here then… but what could it be? Did Tatsumi feed her a drug or something? Or was it one of his powers as a devil? Either way, Tatsumi is the only one who knows something about it.

However, despite all the embarrassment she was feeling, a smirk still managed to form on her face as she went to the nearby cabinet to fetch a new pair of clothes.

_"You've definitely caught my interest now, Tatsumi… I can't wait until the next time I have you to myself~"_ she thought to herself as she remembered that steamy scene from earlier in her mind, while changing into a new set of sleepwear before she'd go to sleep.

Meanwhile, on the way back to his own room, Tatsumi could only bang his own head against the wall for not being able to control his own instincts against Eadeath earlier.

_"Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! Now she's gonna be more obsessed with me! Stupid dragon instincts!"_ he berated himself, with anime tears falling from his eyes.

It wasn't all bad for Tatsumi Raum's first day of being the king of his peerage, after all.

* * *

_**Well that takes care of that! We now have our first harem moment of the story. Yay. No more explaining supernatural stuff for now and I had some fun having Tatsumi in the presence of all the girls in his peerage while naked. Why, you ask? To set the tone, duh. What would you expect? This is the world of Highschool DxD and everyone knows ecchi is bound to happen.**_

_**Next chapter, we'll finally move along and continue with the story starting with the team visiting Najenda's memorial. This chapter is, shall we say, a break from the info dump in the past chapters.**_

_**Tatsumi's peerage:**_

_**King: Tatsumi**_

_**Queen: Esdeath**_

_**Bishop: Mine**_

_**Bishop: Lubbock**_

_**Rook: Leone**_

_**Rook: Bulat**_

_**Knight: Akame**_

_**Knight: Kurome**_

_**Pawn (4x): Chelsea**_

_**Pawn (4x): Sheele**_

_**Goodbye… and good night! BANG! *too sweet gesture***_

_**-Lance**_


	8. Letting the Past Go

_**Finally, I have free time. Sorry for the long wait, guys! I had to take care of midterms week and the requirements that came with it, so I was busy for the past 2 weeks. Then I also joined the school's karate club, and that pretty much cuts off a significant part of my free time because our training takes place everyday. I'll still update as much as I can, but they'll not be as often as you wanted, guys. Anyway, let's head to the chapter!**_

_**Disclaimer: I don't own Akame ga kill, Highschool DxD, or any of its characters…**_

* * *

**(Tomorrow)**

Tatsumi was the first to wake up, or so he thought. He wasn't a morning person during the weekends, because that was the only time where he could enjoy some rest from, shall we say, _work_ and maybe school nowadays but that was yet another story to be explained soon enough. How could he not wake up early? After all, he promised his peerage that they would be going to Najenda's little shrine today, which he himself had built hundreds of years ago.

The moment he offered that to his peerage members yesterday, they knew it was a long time coming. They owed a lot to their silver-haired leader, it was only right that they pay their respects to her before moving on. Yesterday, only Esdeath looked uninterested in that particular topic yesterday, but nobody really paid attention to what she was thinking. Kurome was fine with tagging along, for the reason to be able to 'stick close to Tatsumi-nii' as to how she put it, but who knows what she meant by that?

The king went down towards the kitchen to brew himself a cup of coffee, while thinking deeply to himself. _"I wonder how Sona's gonna take it once she sees my peerage in personal… and I hope that goes well, I don't want any trouble happening later on. Well yeah, out of all of them, I think it's only Esdeath that I need to keep an eye on… the others, I think they can do just fine once I tell them what to do._" He took a sip from his cup, before turning off the coffee maker that he had just used. _"But for the love of… I hope they get enrolled by the end of the day… otherwise, they'll be stuck here all week with nothing better to do… maybe fight each other to the death or something…"_

All of a sudden, a pair of arms had wrapped around him from behind. "Good morning, Tatsumi! Did you have a good sleep?" Chelsea beamed, surprisingly showing up without a lollipop in her mouth.

Tatsumi nearly jumped in surprise as he heard Chelsea's voice from behind him, and it nearly caused the hot coffee to spill into him. He turned towards her with a serious expression, but not before setting his cup aside first.

"That wasn't funny Chelsea, the coffee nearly spilled all over me because of you." he spoke in a stern voice, before shaking his head in disappointment.

"Oops," she grinned nervously, before linking her hands behind her back innocently. "Sorry about that, I just wanted to surprise you since you looked kind of gloomy just a while ago."

Tatsumi sighed. Who was he kidding? Scolding Chelsea for something like this is never gonna make an impression anyway. "Never mind. Are the others up yet? We're going to Najenda's little shrine today, remember?" he asked, taking another sip of his coffee.

Chelsea put her finger just below her mouth. "Hm, I don't know for the others, but I did see Akame doing some stretches while on my way down."

"That girl never changes…" he chuckled to himself. "Even though her mission as an assassin is already over, she'll still keep her body in top shape. That's good, actually. You never know when an enemy could come out of nowhere and attack us. And plus, this will benefit her greatly in the future."

As Chelsea listened to him speak, she then remembered the events that transpired yesterday, remembering how she was one of the people at fault for his little… _incident _in the bath. Yeah, he simply wanted to enjoy some time to himself having a long soak in the relaxing water, but Leone and her ended up ruining it for him. If this had taken place in the past, she would tease him non-stop about it, but times have changed. She knew that Tatsumi must have changed as well, and that included his demeanor… well except for being dense, that is.

The auburn-haired girl ran her hand through her locks slowly. "Oh yeah, I'm… I'm sorry for… for what happened yesterday." she muttered in a tone that showed her regret over what happened.

Now that statement made Tatsumi stop and turn his head towards Chelsea. Did she just apologize or was he hearing things? Of _all _people, it was Chelsea who was going to _apologize_ to him? He had never seen her apologize to anyone before, with the exception of making up for the mistakes she would commit during a mission, or when she would tease somebody.

"Sorry for what?" he replied in a confused tone, wondering what could she have done that made her apologize because of it.

"Well, you just wanted to take a bath yesterday, right?" she explained, looking at almost every direction due to her uneasiness. "I noticed that everything was all fine and peaceful between you and Leone, but then I joined in and… well, you know what happened after that. In the end, we ended up stealing away your time in the bathhouse…" She then turned back towards Tatsumi, her gaze meeting his. "Now I feel responsible for it, so… I'm sorry." she internally groaned due to her inability to sound like she really regretted what she did yesterday. _"Urgh, why is this so hard to do? I'm just apologizing to someone, for Go— for devil's sake!"_ she complained in her thoughts as she bowed slightly, attempting to look convincing in Tatsumi's eyes.

He frowned as Chelsea stood upright again. "Wait, is it about that?"

She shrugged.

"Oh, don't worry about it. I'll admit it was crazy to think about but the important thing is, I was still able to take a bath and that's it." he waved her off with a smile, and Chelsea blushed slightly as a result, before smiling in return. His sense of understanding to those he cared about was one of the traits that she appreciated and liked from him, and she could only be glad that he still retained that personality even after many years.

"Besides, I've already took a few baths with some girls before so… what happened yesterday wasn't the first time…" he admitted with a slight blush appearing on his cheeks.

His words didn't manage to get through Chelsea's ears as her eyes widened at what she heard him say. He had taken a bath with a girl before?! How could he faint like yesterday if that particular scenario already happened to him?! Wait, wait, wait. If he _did_ got into a bath with a woman in the past, the question would be a matter of who it is then… Esdeath? They were alone together most of the time from what Leone had told her back then. Or maybe Mine? Wait, she was too much of a tsundere for it…

Plus, knowing about this should be a good way to get back into her usual habit of teasing her friends, because acting like _this _is definitely unlike her normal self.

"Wait, you did?" she interrupted his muse as Tatsumi looked at her like a deer in headlights. "With who? Esdeath? Mine? Leone?" she asked, but Tatsumi shook his head at the mention of them, although he did blush in embarrassment. Chelsea rubbed her chin, trying to think. "Did Akame have no problem taking a bath with you?" he shook his head again. "Did Sheele confuse herself with the direction of where she should be taking a bath and went to your spot instead?"

"That one is what should I expect from her if that's the case…" he sighed afterwards, before shaking his head again. "But no, it's not with any of them."

"Oh? Then who?" she asked with genuine curiousness.

"Ah, you shouldn't worry about it," he waved her off again, trying to ignore having to answer her question in the first place. "I was just a kid when it they happened, nothing to worry about there…"

"You better tell me who," she told him using the same sweet sickly voice she used on him in the past when he tried to sneak on her in the bath.

"Okay, okay!" he waved his hands in front of him, as he didn't want to have to handle a pissed-off Chelsea early in the morning. "My mom forced me to take baths together with… a childhood friend of mine and her sister." he said in the most vague way possible, not wanting to stir any more trouble because if he dropped _her _name, he was sure there would be _hell_ to pay, no pun intended.

"You're not gonna tell me her name?" she continued with the same sweet sickly voice she used earlier.

"Her name isn't of any importance and that's going too far into my private life, don't you think, Chelsea?" he asked rhetorically, his expression switching to a more serious one.

"Fine," she grumbled, although Tatsumi was right about going too far into his life. She'd have no choice but to wait for him to reveal some of his juicy secrets like what she asked just now, if he ever planned to, that is. "But if that was the case, then why were you embarrassed as hell when we were around yesterday? Shouldn't you be used to taking a bath with girls now?"

He rubbed the back of his head, his serious expression disappearing almost immediately. "Yeah, but… the case is different for you guys."

"What do you mean?"

Tatsumi shrugged his shoulders. "I know how much Leone hates perverts as much as she likes to act all flirty and teasing. Mine pretty much hates every kind of pervert there is, Akame won't hesitate to bury whoever tries to sneak a peek on her, Sheele may be dumb but I think she knows the limits of what a man is allowed to see and… well, you get the picture." Chelsea still had a blank look on her face even with everything he said. "Especially for you, I haven't… uhm, forgotten… what you told me back then."

Now she was confused. What was he talking about? "Huh? What did I tell you?"

"You don't remember?" Chelsea shook her head in a confused manner. "Really? You don't remember threatening to cut off my… _you know_…" he covered his crotch with an embarrassed look, which also surprisingly caused the girl to blush in shame as well. "…if I ever try to… peek on you naked, right? Well, that explains why… I wasn't able to keep myself under control yesterday."

"Did I really say that?" she asked, and Tatsumi nodded in response. "Well, forget about it, okay? It's in the past now." she quickly said, wanting to get that little _threat _of hers out of the way as well as to get over her own embarrassment. "I'm _totally _fine if you see me naked from now on," she boldly declared with a smirk on her face.

Tatsumi's jaw had dropped to the floor in shock, and it was a good thing he wasn' holding his cup. "W-W-W-Wh-Wha —" his mind was trying to process what she just said to him, but Chelsea wasn't going to have any of that. Before he could even blurt out something else, she had cornered him against the kitchen sink with a hungry look in her eyes.

"Chelsea, what are you—" he tried to say once again, but got cut off when the girl clamped her hand over his mouth.

"Shh, you wouldn't want the others hearing about that, would you~?" she teased, leaning towards him so much that their chests were almost touching.

"Hearing about what?" came another voice.

Both Chelsea and Tatsumi immediately froze, before turning their heads to where that voice came from.

The rest of the peerage had just arrived at the kitchen, with Leone standing in front of them all, her hands resting on her hips. Lubbock was still quite sleepy, but Bulat and the rest of the girls were fully awake and looked ready for the day.

"E-Everyone, this is —" he tried to say in order to prevent any wrong ideas to build up in their heads, but Chelsea had beaten him to it.

"I just told Tatsumi that I'm fine with him seeing me naked from now on," she said in the same bold tone that she used earlier, a smug look appearing on her face as she spoke.

That lone statement was enough for Lubbock to be knocked out from his sleepy state and be fully awake. "WHAT?!" he shouted, a huge nosebleed already bursting out of his nose.

Tatsumi sighed, knowing there was nothing he could do about it now. Esdeath and the rest of the females of his peerage blushed upon hearing Chelsea's declaration, while Bulat simply raised both of his eyebrows in piqued interest.

"Remember that little incident in the bathhouse yesterday?" Chelsea started to explain, popping a fresh lollipop into her mouth. "Turns out he was too embarrassed because I threatened him about being a pervert way back, but now I told him to just forget about that. This way, we can take baths together without having to worry about another incident like yesterday's!" she cheered, and that caused Tatsumi to blush in embarrassment yet again.

This time, Lubbock fell to the floor because of his nosebleed while continuing to curse Tatsumi's luck. Meanwhile, a smirk began to form on Leone's face as she processed what Chelsea just said.

"Is that so? Well then…" she walked towards Tatsumi and leaned against his left side, while sending him a sexy grin. "If Chelsea is gonna do that, then that applies to me too. You can see me naked whenever you want, Tatsumi~" she cooed.

"L-Leone…" he mumbled, his embarrassment quickly growing.

Akame kept staring at the three before her with a small blush on her face, because even her stoic nature can't stand against what Leone and Chelsea announced in front of all of them. She wasn't moving at all, until she felt that she was being pushed by someone behind her.

Looking over her shoulder, Kurome was pushing her comically with both arms towards Tatsumi. "K-Kurome, what do you think you're doing?" Akame asked with a blush on her face, unable to stop herself from moving.

"I know you want to be with Tatsumi-nii as well, Big Sis. Don't be shy." she replied with no hint of emotion in her face. Akame began to blurt out various noises at her sister until she reached Tatsumi, who was embarrassed at being so close to the red-eyed assassin. He respected her so much after all, how could he _not_ be embarrassed because of this?

"Come to join in, Akame?" Leone teased, pulling Akame closer to Tatsumi so that she was leaning on his right side, causing the both of them to blush even more. "Don't worry, there's room for everyone!"

"Urgh, you're all perverts!" Mine fumed, although she was blushing like crazy.

"Okay, that's enough." came Esdeath's cold voice as she used her ice to create face masks for Chelsea, Akame, Leone, and Mine to shut them up. Akame looked ready to charge towards Esdeath out of instinct, but Tatsumi grabbed her arm before she could do anything. "I believe we all woke up for something important, and it doesn't involve throwing your bodies at Tatsumi for no reason other than to make him embarrassed." Esdeath continued, causing the four girls to scowl at her as a result.

_"I'm doing this for no reason?" _Chelsea thought, glancing at Tatsumi as well. _"I know I like to tease a lot, but I can be deadly serious too."_

_"Urgh, damn that bitch!" _Leone growled to herself. _"It wasn't even my intention to make him embarrassed! That's just how he is!"_

_"I want to bury her."_ Akame simply thought with a slight pout, lightly clenching her fists in annoyance since she couldn't do anything about it.

_"I didn't even do anything…"_ Mine sighed to herself.

Tatsumi stepped away from the three girls that nearly surrounded him and sighed in relief. Thank God that moment of embarrassment for him was over. "Thanks for that, Esdeath." He then flashed her a knowing look. "But can you please take those masks off their faces? It wasn't really necessary but thanks all the same."

"Whatever you say," Esdesth replied in a nonchalant tone, taking away the ice masks she created for Akame, Mine, Chelsea and Leone, before crushing them into bits in the air with a simple movement of her fist. "As long as you show to me _again_ what you did last night," she said, smirking before srnding Tatsumi a playful wink.

Tataumi blushed, fully aware of what she was referring to. The memories of last night played into his mind, but he was quick to shake his head in order to prevent himself from taking it _too _seriously.

"Wait, what's going on? What happened last night?" Leone asked with a frown, clearly suspicious of what Esdeath just said.

"It's nothing. Don't mind it." Tatsumi said, but Leone sent him a look of doubt, expressing what she felt about his words. "She's just messing around as always, don't think too much of it."

The attention of the whole group now went to Esdeath, who only shrugged her shoulders as a response, not caring how her fellow peerage members would perceive her words. Almost all of them heeded Tatsumi's words afterwards, since they were quite aware that Esdeath indeed acts like that all the time, except for Leone who still had some suspicions about what the bluenette said.

_"I swear I'll get to the bottom of this…" _Leone swore internally, brushing off this topic to the back of her mind so she wouldn't think much of it.

"Anyway, if it's okay with you…" he turned towards the red-eyed assassin behind him. "Can you go ahead and make breakfast for us, Akame? If we're gonna leave the house, let's at least have something in our bellies because I sure as hell will _not _treat you all to a resturant… especially you." he said, sweat-dropping at the end of his statement since he knew how much of a glutton Akame was, and there was her sister as well.

Akame let out a small chuckle at his last remark before nodding, as she made her way to the fridge to get the ingredients she needed.

"Well now that we're waiting for breakfast to be ready, why don't we all take a seat?" Tatsumi continued, making himself comfortable in the spot where he sat yesterday, while the others did the same. "That's better, so now I'll be brief about it and go straight to the point."

"You have something to tell us?" Lubbock asked, holding his head with one hand due to the bloodloss he suffered earlier.

Tatsumi turned towards his green-haired friend and nodded, before looking back at all of them. "We'll be going to the shrine I built for Najenda like we talked about, but after that, we'll take a detour to the school that I'm currently attending before we head home." he explained, causing confused looks to form on each of his friends' faces.

"Why would we need to go there?" Bulat asked, scratching the back of his head. "Are you going to make us students like you?"

"That's exactly what I want to do."

"And why would you do that, Tatsumi?" Esdeath asked, raising an eyebrow in interest. Though, just the prospect of her being a mere student was leaving a bad taste in her mouth.

"If you recall one of the things we talked about last night, school's going to start again on Monday before ending on Saturday, and it will remain that way until graduation." His peerage members nodded, as they remembered all the things that Tatsumi taught to them one-by-one and by now, Akame was almost halfway through cooking the group's breakfast. "I can't leave any of you here while I'm gone, so I need to take you all with me when I go to school."

Esdeath frowned and crossed her arms. "What do you mean by that, Tatsumi? Even without you yesterday, we were doing fine and nothing bad or unexpected happened like what you were, at the least, expecting to happen."

"What's your point?" Chelsea asked, crossing her arms as well. On one side, it wouldn't be wise to go against what Tatsumi told them to do yet on the other hand, there wasn't any reason to why they should go to school as well. Esdeath did have a point that all of them got along well even without their king yesterday, since everyone was just minding their own business.

"All I'm saying is that why do we have to do the same? Getting taught in school and being a student is not how I would want to spend the day, and I can tell I'm not the only one who thinks that. We aren't _children_ who need to be taught, or am I wrong?" Esdeath shot a glance at the former members of Night Raid. "We can manage on our own like yesterday, even without Tatsumi. Unless one of you are still uncomfortable to be in my presence, that is." she smirked after speaking, and Leone could only roll her eyes in annoyance at Esdeath being her usual self.

Tatsumi only had a stern look on his face as Esdeath turned to him once again. "If you want since you're our _leader _and I'm your Queen, like you said, I can keep them in line and act proper as you want. That way, you won't have to be worried about causing ruckus while you're away, Tatsumi." she offered, her smirk never disappearing. It looked like she would do anything just to prevent having to attend a freaking _school_.

The king sighed and closed his eyes, before finally answering. "I get your point Esdeath, and I believe you. You're right, all of you seemed to get along well with no problems yesterday that even I was surprised when I got home without you and Akame going at it again." With this, Akame let out a huff of annoyance while Esdeath's eyes brimmed with hope for a second.

"But I still can't let you." Esdeath's face dropped into a frown that showed her annoyance. "This town we are in right now is under the control of me and another devil, who happens to be a friend of mine, that we'll be meeting at my school later on. Like it or not, you have to go to school with me, so that me and her can personally keep a close eye on you, regarding what you're doing as well as how much you are progressing."

_"Her?"_ Most of them thought, coming to the conclusion that there was another devil on Tatsumi's level around here, and it was a girl.

"I guess I have no choice but to act like a _child _once I go to your _school_, am I right?" Esdeath asked sarcastically with the same annoyed look still plastered on her face, just as Akame began to serve breakfast for all of them.

Tatsumi began to wave his hands dismissively. "Hold on, hold on. Don't get me wrong, as funny as it is to see you in a uniform like everyone else, you don't have to attend school as a student." Esdeath's annoyed look didn't waver for a second. "I was planning on convincing my friend later on to add you and Bro to the school's faculty as teachers instead."

Bulat's head quickly perked up as soon as he heard Tatsumi mention him. "M-Me? A teacher?" he questioned, quirking an eyebrow. "Why not a student like everybody else, I'm not complaining about it."

Tatsumi held up two fingers. "In Esdeath's case, I'm aware of her pride and that pretty much contradicts being a student as a whole. Plus, I'm sure she'll try to get on my nerves in many ways to make me change my mind." Everyone could hear the bluenette mutter a small _"Of course I will" _with that statement. "And I think that she'll be a good P.E. instructor given that she makes her soldiers go through vigorous training to become forces to be reckoned with."

After his last sentence, Esdeath narrowed her eyes, taking what Tatsumi said into her thoughts. Being a student was an insult to her pride but being a teacher? Was it any different? She would still be working in the same place and there would be a set of rules that she had to follow, which she disliked because she herself liked giving orders. Heck, she had an entire battalion of soldiers who would die for her if she told them to!

"In your case, Bro…" Tatsumi turned his attention towards Bulat. "I was planning to make you an assistant P.E. instructor for Esdeath so in this way, not only you can help out and train students, you'll be able to keep a close eye on her to make sure she doesn't…" Tatsumi snuck a glance at Esdeath, who continued to throw an annoyed expression at him. "You know, go _too far _in training, if you get what I mean…" he said, sweat-dropping because who knows what that woman had in mind for a bunch of high school students.

Bulat thought about it for a second or two before grinning widely. "Sounds good, I'm in!" he cheered with a thumbs-up, surprising Tatsumi with his quick answer.

"Just like that? You're not going to think it over?"

Bulat shook his head in amusement. "There's no need for that, Tatsumi. After all, I do love to train and if I remember correctly, I used to have you under my wing back then. You became more capable in fighting when we trained together." he said, dismissing the possibility that Tatsumi was already experienced even before meeting Night Raid. Bulat then crossed his arms. "Teaching a bunch of students should be fun, so count me in."

"Alright then, that leaves only one person left to give their answer." Tatsumi smiled and turned back towards the bluenette once again. "So what do you say, Esdeath? We're not leaving this table until you give us your answer."

All eyes flew towards said woman and Esdeath couldn't help but roll her eyes at the position she was in. It was a good thing there was some… _entertainment,_ to her decision.

"Once again, you have me at a compromising position. Tatsumi." she sighed as she spoke, expressing her disappointment in the process. "With one of your assassin friends monitoring me to make sure I don't do anything _stupid _as how you put, I feel more of a prisoner than family." Esdeath then narrowed her eyes at him. "Weren't you preaching about treating your peerage members like real family just yesterday?"

Tatsumi's eyes widened slightly, before he looked down to hide his guilt. He was aware of what he was doing to Esdeath, but he had to take precautions; she was a wild-card as far as he was concerned, and this might lead to more problems in the future, so he had to be extra careful with giving the bluenette the freedom she wants.

Esdeath then shrugged and rolled her eyes. "…but whatever, I guess it beats being a student."

The king immediately looked up as soon as he heard her, wondering if he was hearing things or what. "Uh… what?" he asked in a confused tone.

"As a teacher, I can teach students however I want, correct?" Esdeath said, a sadistic smile grazing her lips, showing that she was eager for _fun_.

Still confused, Tatsumi simply gave her the answer to her question instead of acting serious. "Well that depends on your style of teaching, provided you don't go too far like hurting your students physically or even breaking their minds, why?"

Esdeath crossed her arms and smirked. "Then so be it. I'll be a… P.E. instructor in your school. I'll make the students as physically capable as my soldiers in the Empire." she said, disdain still present in her tone at the mention of what she was going to be, although that changed upon imagining the next generation ready for a war thanks to her efforts.

"If you say so…" Tatsumi sweat-dropped. It seems that Esdeath will always be the same… well, at least she agreed to be a teacher like what he hoped for, right?

"Then I guess we'll be stuck as students then?" Lubbock joined in, gaining everybody's attention. He looked intrigued for a few seconds before leaning back with a huff. "Man, this is gonna be boring… just sitting there and listening to unimportant shit… it makes me want to be an assassin again just for the thrill of it." he complained, causing everyone else to sweat-drop as well.

"You'll get used to it…" Tatsumi tried to cheer him up through words, although deep down he knew that Lubbock was right.

"Was that all you wanted to tell us, Tatsumi?" Mine asked.

"Yeah that's all, at least for now…" he replied, although he ended up muttering the last part so that no one can hear him, as the whole Raum peerage continued on with their breakfast.

* * *

"Sorry that we only got to visit you now, things have been… really complicated lately, Boss."

After the group was done with breakfast, they each proceeded to take a bath so they could visit Najenda like what they wanted, and Tatsumi used a magic circle to transport all of them to the place where the shrine he built for their past leader was located. Just like what the king said, it was found in the forest where Night Raid's old hideout used to be found, and the assassin group's former members didn't waste even a second just to get inside the shrine.

Leone, Sheele, Lubbock and Mine were kneeling a few inches away from the silver urn that stood before them. Akame, Chelsea and Bulat remained on their feet behind them yet the sadness and sorrow could still be seen from their eyes. Patting her sister on the back was Kurome, although she never really knew Najenda, she knew enough that she was a person close to Akame. Standing by the entrance to the shrine were Esdeath and Tatsumi, and the former could only look on in boredom because of _this _scene in front of her. No, this silly thing was below her since she had no connection with Najenda on a personal level, much less a good one. What was she even doing here in the first place? Why couldn't she just wait outside and go kill a wild beast or something? Tatsumi had to persuade her to stay with them, didn't he?

"Yeah, really complicated actually Najenda…" Lubbock rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment. "I know you already know about this, but can you really believe it, though? Tatsumi is a freakin' devil, with magical powers we thought that back then was impossible… but it's because of him that we're back here in this world." He took a deep breath, a lone tear falling from his eye. "Even if you're… gone now… I'm… glad I could say goodbye to you personally." He clenched his fist tightly. _"I wish you were still here with us…" _he thought to himself.

Mine rubbed his shoulder in comfort before she spoke herself. "Yeah, even if you're… not with us anymore… you're still our Boss! Nobody can replace you, not even Tatsumi and he knows that!" Mine glanced at Tatsumi for a second and he only smiled in agreement, and she returned it with one of her own. "We'll… we'll visit you whenever we're free too! That way, we can make up for those hundred years that we… lost out on… right?" she looked at her friends and they all nodded firmly in response.

"Yeah, what she said…" Leone continued, flashing one of her toothy grins. "We'll drop by here anytime we're free, now that we know where it is… but I still can't believe this place is in the forest where our old hideout used to be."

"Wait, this place wasn't our hideout all this time?" Sheele asked, putting her finger underneath her chin in confusion, and everyone let out a small chuckle. It looks like Sheele's airheadedness had some good to it sometimes, if she can lift away the sad atmosphere from the group like this, even for only a moment.

The silver urn, which held Najenda's ashes inside, was atop a very small table along with a framed portrait of her beside it. A fresh bouquet of flowers was placed beside those two, courtesy of Tatsumi; before going home from school yesterday, he took a detour to the town's flower shop to replace the old flowers that he offered in the shrine a month ago. To top it off, a box of Najenda's favorite cigarettes was in front of her portrait, again provided by Tatsumi himself while he was going home yesterday. _**(Just imagine that her cigars have withstood the test of time, lol)**_

Esdeath looked like she was ready to blow a fuse but she contained herself so that she wouldn't cause a scene. Looking to the side, she saw Tatsumi giving an eye gesture towards the small memorial before turning back to her. The bluenette scowled and gave him an "Are you serious" look afterwards, but Tatsumi only shrugged in response.

"Tch," she scoffed before crossing her arms and looking away. Hell no, it would damage her pride for her to even move forward and offer her condolences and besides, they were sworn enemies back then!

But wait, was her pride really that important for her to even hold on to what happened in the past? Esdeath wasn't dumb, she definitely knew that what was in the past stays there and that the present is what matters. Would it _really _hurt her pride to even offer her respect to a dead woman? It has been a long time since they have even seen each other, much less when they were still alive since Esdeath was supposed to be dead too, only being kept from eternal sleep by Tatsumi's power.

Taking a deep breath, she sent one last scowl at Tatsumi before making her way towards Najenda's memorial, even pushing Night Raid's former members out of her way as she did so. They were shocked and felt angry of course, thinking that Esdeath was planning to disrespect their former leader in some way as she stood before the silver urn.

Leone was the first to react; she was about to storm her way towards the bluenette when Tatsumi put his hand on her shoulder from behind and shook his head.

"Tatsumi, what are you doing?" Mine nearly screeched out, only keeping her voice down because of respect for Najenda. "_She's_ going to trash the Boss's memory if we don't do something!" she pointed her finger accusingly towards Esdeath.

"Not quite. Watch." Tatsumi replied calmly, gesturing for them to keep their eyes on the former general in front of them.

In a move that shocked all of her fellow peerage members, Esdeath slowly knelt down on one knee and stared intensely at the portrait of Najenda in front of her.

_"We have been allies once, yet became bitter enemies in the end. I've never had the chance to fight you again while you were still in this world, but I respect you for being a worthy and strong opponent even so. You were able to lead your subordinates to victory, something I failed to do for my part and among other things. We may have had different goals and ideologies, but in the end, we're nearly no different from each other, aren't we?" _Esdeath thought to herself, before smirking. _"When we do meet again, what do you say we have a match to find out which one of us truly is the stronger one?"_

Finishing her train of thought, Esdeath stood up and looked ready to leave but not before flashing a cocky pose.

"By the way, I don't regret taking your arm from you," Esdeath grinned before chuckling. "That robotic arm suited you much better, anyway."

Her statement caused all members of Night Raid to have tick marks on their heads in fury, Kurome to stare blankly at the bluenette, while Tatsumi sweat-dropped as he rubbed the back of his head.

_"It looks like Esdeath will always be Esdeath…"_ he thought to himself.

* * *

After each of Night Raid's former members have personally paid their respects to their fallen leader one by one, they departed the shrine and teleported back to Kuoh via magic circle. This time, they found themselves inside the gates of Kuoh Academy, which was the school where the group's leader was currently attending.

Observing her surroundings, Esdeath noticed that this place looked somewhat similar to the Imperial palace's courtyard where she used to train her soldiers most of the time.

"So… I take it this is your school, Tatsumi?" she spoke, her eyes settling on the large building before them.

"Yep," he replied while emphasizing the 'p'. "Looks insanely different from the schools and training camps back then, huh?"

"Indeed."

"Just how big is this place?" Mine asked, looking astonished with the reach of this school in terms of land, showing that she was still adjusting to this new and more advanced world that they were in.

"Well, since Leone here has already been to this place when she followed me around yesterday," his eyes fell on Leone, who looked away with a pout at being reminded of how embarrassing that moment was. "Why don't you answer Mine's question based on what you saw?"

Leone remained silent for a few moments before shrugging her shoulders. "Pretty big," she sighed. "If I didn't know this place was a school beforehand, I'd have mistaken it for some kind of marketplace exclusive for teenagers."

"Not bad." Tatsumi commented with a small smirk, before he continued on his way inside while being followed closely by his peerage. "Yeah, it is quite big… there's even a pool, a gym, a track-and-field area and a tennis field around here… so counting those alone can say a lot for this school. Well, that is because it caters to both highschool and college students altogether."

"How long have you been here, man?" Lubbock asked with his eyebrow raised. "I'm just curious since you did say you were 21 or something near to that… if that was the case, why are you still in this school? Shouldn't you be making a living for yourself by now?" It was true; for someone who was already 21, still being in school could mean that something was wrong or perhaps there was something they don't know yet.

"Actually, I just started here last year, as a second year student." he admitted, shocking all of his peerage members in the process. Seriously, what the hell? How was he still a student at this age?! If he had a house of his own, that could only mean that he can take care of himself! Shouldn't he be working for a living like other people do?

"Wait, what? Do you mind explaining how is that possible, Tatsumi?" Mine asked once again, doubt now lingering in her voice. "Because it doesn't make sense."

"Yeah, it doesn't…" the king replied, not losing his calm expression for a second. "But it's not something I could avoid. I was simply back home with my family in the Underworld and then one day, my parents told me that I'm going to be sent back to the human world yet again, this time to share control over this town with my childhood friend… I don't know why, but I think it has something to do with —" he suddenly stopped when he had reached the door to the student council office. "Oh, it looks like we're here. Let's continue this discussion at another time, Mine." he sent a glance towards the pinkette behind him and she only huffed in response.

"Fine," she crossed her arms and looked away.

Tatsumi knocked on the door and waited for a few moments to let someone answer. A young woman with long black hair then opened the door for them, albeit only for a bit so she could see who it was.

"Hinogawa-kun?" Said girl's name was Tsubaki Shinra, Sona Sitri's Queen and Vice President of the student council. "Why are you here? It's Saturday, there are no classes for the day." she spoke, pushing up her glasses.

"Oh hey, Shinra-san." Tatsumi greeted with a small smile. "Actually, I need to talk to your president about a very important matter." He then moved to the side so the girl could see the members of his peerage. He could have sworn he saw her eyes widen for a brief moment before returning to normal size.

"Very well. Please wait for a moment out here, I shall first inform Kaichou that you wish to speak with her." With that, Tatsumi nodded and the door closed again, and he simply leaned on the wall beside it to wait.

"Tatsumi, why did she call you 'Hinogawa'? Wasn't your last name 'Raum' or something like that?" Lubbock questioned out of curiosity.

"Oh, that?" Tatsumi turned to his green-haired friend. "I use a different surname in the human world to keep my true nature a secret. Now that you mention it, it's better if you all think of your own last names too, as of now. You'll need it when school starts for all of you this Monday. It'll be weird if you go to school with only your first name for everyone to know."

"You have a good point…" Lubbock mumbled, looking to the side in deep thought of what he could use as his own surname. "Then who was that girl that just showed up? She's not gonna let us in there?"

"Just wait it out for a while, she'll be back." Tatsumi waved him off and simply kept staring at the door beside him, waiting for it to open once again.

While they remained there in silence, the door to the student council room opened again, this time fully as Tsubaki Shinra stood before them still with her stoic expression.

"Hinogawa-san," she called out and Tatsumi poked his head into the room. "Kaichou will speak with you now." She stepped aside to let Tatsumi and his peerage into the room.

He nodded and motioned for his peerage to follow him inside. Sitting behind her desk near the window was his childhood friend, the girl he had spoken to just yesterday, Sona Sitri. The girl had her cold, emotionless face as always and she kept her gaze glued on the members of the Raum peerage instead of Tatsumi himself, examining them up close and personal for herself.

"Here you go, Sona." Tatsumi sat on the chair across the desk where his childhood friend was sitting. "You said you wanted to see my peerage for yourself, and here they are."

The group's eyes flew towards the girl that Tatsumi was talking to, as some of them could literally feel the cold look that was directed towards them. So this was the childhood friend that he was mentioning since earlier? It was as if she was chewing them out with only her eyes, and that's saying something. Only Esdeath remained impassive, staring back at the student council with a cold look of her own, not wanting to be intimidated by a mere _teenager_, devil or not.

Sona continued to examine them for a few more seconds before leaning back into her seat, with Tsubaki standing just beside her. "I see what you mean when you told me that they look like an odd group," she stated flatly.

"Yeah, you'll get used to it…" Tatsumi looked to the side as Esdeath's anger slightly grew. Did this girl just describe her as _odd_? And she had the knack to include her with Akame and the others too? Well, they were all part of Tatsumi's peerage as a whole, but still…

"Go straight to the point, Tatsumi." Sona continued, turning back towards her childhood friend. "Why did you bring them here? I can tell that you have a reason other than me seeing your peerage choices for myself."

"Right, so…" Tatsumi raised both of his eyebrows before glancing at his peerage behind him. "I think they're ready to enroll here." This got a look of surprise from the violet-eyed girl, albeit slightly. "I taught them the basics of this new world they're in just last night and now… I think they're ready to take on school and learn progressively."

"Are you sure about that? Why not give them a full week to let them adapt to this new environment? There's no need to rush things and have them enrolled in this school quite immediately."

"They can handle it fine, trust me." Tatsumi quickly shot down her suggestion. "I know I speak highly of them most of the time, but it's for a reason. I mean, I spent almost the whole night yesterday explaining some of the basic and important they need to learn about the world today, and they took everything in without much difficulty."

Sona rose an eyebrow in slight interest. "You speak highly of them even now that they are just behind you, listening to your words."

He shrugged his shoulders. "That's because I've witnessed first-hand how awesome they are, can you really blame me for that?"

"No, I can't." She turned to look at the Raum peerage for a few more seconds before sending a nod at Tsubaki's direction, causing the tall girl to nod back and head towards the nearby cabinet, looking for something. "Are you sure with this decision of yours? Along with their enrollment, you, as their king, will also be taking responsibility for any future matters that involves any of the members of your peerage. Are you ready to take on that responsibility?"

"How can I be a fitting heir to the clan if I can't even take care of my peerage properly?" he asked rhetorically. "Yeah, don't worry about it. If they do anything that goes against the school's regulations, you can count on me to deal with it… not that I expect them to just that… _right_?" he turned his head to his peerage members slowly with a suspicious look, and they only nodded in response, except for Esdeath who rolled her eyes in annoyance. Can't they just get this over with?

Tatsumi turned back towards Sona with a reassuring smile. "And there you have it. Don't worry about having a school club to conceal our… _activities_, I already have something in mind for that. I'll talk to you about it tomorrow since I want to deal with their enrollment first."

"Very well." Sona clasped her hands together as Tsubaki came back with a pile of documents in her hands. "In Tsubaki's hands are enrollment forms that each of your peerage members would need to fill up in order for them to be officially enrolled in Kuoh Academy. If you think that they are ready to be enrolled, then I shall trust your judgement provided it would be your responsibility should one of them violate a school rule. I trust that you'll explain the rules and regulations of the academy to them?"

"Got it." Tatsumi nodded.

"Then I only have one question left before your peerage can fill up their forms." Sona said in a voice that was slightly colder than usual.

"And that would be?"

"What are you going to have her do?" Sona sent a glance towards Tatsumi's Queen, and the young devil across her turned his head to see where she was looking at. "I remember quite well from our discussion yesterday that she was once your enemy, yet you still chose to bring her back. Having her enrolled in this school will be a problem if we consider her personality, Tatsumi. Think of what could happen to the other students if I let her roam around the hallways as a fellow student."

Tatsumi sighed and scratched the top of his head. "Believe me, I'm aware of that. I already talked to her about it as well." He looked at Esdeath once more and although she looked irritated, she just crossed her arms and looked away with gritted teeth, clearly not wanting to make a scene. "Anyway, in Esdeath's case, I don't intend for her to become a student, but rather a teacher."

Sona's eyebrows raised slightly in surprise before continuing. "Oh? And how does that ensure that she won't try anything suspicious compared to being a student?" she questioned. "In fact, that would be a more dangerous move, giving her freedom as a teacher. I remember your description of her quite well, and I would certainly not want to have a murdering psycho as a teacher to the students."

At this point, Esdeath clicked her tongue in annoyance. This girl was really pissing her off. Knowing that he can't let anything get out of hand involving his peerage, Tatsumi acted upon instinct.

"Of course I know about that, Sona." Tatsumi sighed heavily, showing that he wanted to get this over with already. "But I thought of a solution for that too."

"Is that so?"

Tatsumi gestured towards Bulat, and the tall man stepped forward out of his instincts as an assassin, feeling as though Najenda was about to assign him to do a mission.

"My bro, Bulat, right there will keep an eye on Esdeath to make sure she stays within the code of conduct. I've already talked to him about it earlier, and he has no problem with being an assistant teacher for Esdeath. If she ever steps out of line, he'll inform me about it and then I'll inform you next, so we can deal with it together." Tatsumi noticed Esdeath glaring at him, looking like she was hurt with his assumption that she would break her word, and he sighed as a result. This woman was definitely hard to handle. "Well, not that I'm expecting her to do it anyway."

"You're putting way too much trust in her, Tatsumi. It could end up stabbing you in the back if you don't handle her properly." Sona said in a blunt tone.

Tatsumi crossed his arms and shrugged. "She had plenty of opportunities to kill me in the past, but it never happened. I'm not saying she would have a change of heart overnight, but I'm willing to see it for myself if it does happen. Besides, if she doesn't get to be here in school with us, she'll only be left at home and if that happens, we won't be able to keep an eye on her then."

Sona narrowed her eyes at him. It appears that Tatsumi was determined to have Esdeath roam the school grounds as a teacher, despite the possible risks it involved. "If this happens, you'll be taking responsibility of everything that involves her, Tatsumi." She took another glance at Esdeath. "After all, I am not her king and that role falls upon you. If I let her in this school, every problem that she brings upon us would be on you. And if that happens, I can't say that I would be willing to lend you a hand." she stated coldly.

Tatsumi shrugged again, since he was used to Sona being like this. "That's fine. I'll just see how long this will last…" he turned his head around for a bit to look at the bluenette behind him. "Esdeath not being her usual self, I mean…" He turned back to his childhood friend with a small smirk, causing Sona to raise an eyebrow slightly. "But if I ever needed help because I'm an idiot, and since I can't go to you, I guess I'll have to call on your sister."

For the first time ever since they first saw her, Sona's cold expression changed; her eyes widened and a faint blush appeared across her cheeks, being caught off guard with Tatsumi's sudden words.

_"What's going on? Did Tatsumi say something wrong?" _was the thought that went through everyone's minds except for Tsubaki, who already knew why her leader became shocked just now.

The student council president glared at the now-laughing Tatsumi. "Don't even think about it. You and I know well how she _behaves_," Sona hissed. The last thing she needed was her _troublesome _sister coming to Kuoh for whatever reason it was, more so if it involved Tatsumi because she would be _really _eager to visit if that was the case.

"I know, I know, I'm kidding." Tatsumi waved her off, before calming down from his laughing state. "Seriously, you've got to try and lay off the seriousness just for a second. At this rate, you're gonna end up like your dad, maybe even worse."

Sona glared at him even harder, and the Raum heir scratched the back of his head in nervousness. Okay, he may have overstepped a line there…

"Um, what's this about your sister?" Leone piped up in sudden curiosity, stepping forward as she raised her arm. This got the attention of both kings turn towards her, which honestly saved Tatsumi from something worse. "Sorry, I just thought it was weird that she looked like she was about to faint when you mentioned her sister, Tatsumi. Is there something we should know about her sister?" she said, pointing towards Sona.

"You may refer to me as 'Kaichou', and I apologize, but matters regarding my personal life is none of your business." Sona said, going back to her cold tone as she looked at Leone with the same glare.

The **Lionelle **user was about to retort, but Tatsumi cut her off with his hand raised. "Just leave it, Leone. Trust me, you don't want to know." he said, turning his head to her and his peerage was surprised when Tatsumi actually had a look of worry on his face. Why, though?

Although it raised more questions in her mind, Leone raised her hands in defeat and stepped backward again. "Okay, okay, no need to gang up on me. I was just curious, that's all." she muttered, while her eyes trailed off to the side.

Tatsumi slowly turned back towards Sona with a small grin. "Anywaaayy, can we move on with their enrollments, Sona?" he asked, tapping his fingers on the desk. "I already gave my word about Esdeath's situation, unless you want to talk about something else regarding my peerage joining the academy?"

Sona looked at Tatsumi with her hands clasped together for a moment, before her eyes flew to his peerage, then back to him again. She kept her stern look for a few more seconds before releasing a quiet sigh into her hands. Looking at Tsubaki, she gave her Queen a stiff nod, and the long-haired vice president immediately knew what she meant.

"Have them fill up their forms, then give those two two copies of the registration form for teachers," was all that Sona said, and Tatsumi couldn't stop the smile that formed on his face afterwards, while the members of his peerage tended to their own papers.

* * *

**(The following day, Monday)**

"WOAH!"

"LOOK AT THESE HOT CHICKS!"

"MORE BABES FOR US TO PEEK ON!"

"I LIKE THAT ONE, SHE HAS THE BIGGEST BOOBS AMONG THEM!"

"I'LL GO FOR THAT LOLLIPOP GIRL, SHE'S FREAKIN' SEXY WITH THOSE LEGS!"

"I'LL HAVE THAT CHICK WITH THE RED EYES, I FEEL LIKE SHE'S KILLING ME WITH THOSE!"

Those were only a few of the reactions from the [male] students of the academy, as they welcomed the 3 new girls into the classroom, 2-A. Of course, the girls in the class threw disgusted looks at them, particularly at the notorious "Perverted Duo" of the school who were known for peeking on girls and being perverts whenever they got the chance.

Akame, now clad in the Kuoh academy uniform for girls, stood uncomfortably in front of the whole class with a blushing face. She wasn't used to being around many people, having lived the life of an assassin who always considered herself an outcast to society. Now she felt overwhelmed with… this.

"I… I don't know how to begin…" she mumbled, looking down with a red face.

"Come on, just treat it like you're meeting new friends!" Chelsea grinned, before patting Akame on the back. Like the red-eyed girl, she was also dressed in the girls' uniform, except that the first few buttons of her top were undone, showing off the black shirt she wore underneath. "There's no need to be shy, Akame!"

"Um… why are we here in front again?" Sheele asked in a confused tone, not understanding why she was standing here with Akame and Chelsea. Plus, there was also the two boys, one was bald and the other had glasses, in the middle of the room who kept on shouting praises for them, and she didn't know why. "Mine and the others too… where are they?"

Chelsea rolled her eyes and turned towards Sheele. "Look airhead, all of them are in different places in this big school, so we're not gonna see them until lunch later on, okay? Lubbock and Pinky are in another classroom, Leone is a year ahead of us with Tatsumi, and Akame's sister is with the first-years." she explained, taking her lollipop out of her mouth before popping it back in. "For now, the three of us are stuck here by ourselves, so we gotta deal with it."

Sheele nodded slowly, although she still looked a bit confused. But that was when she remembered something else. "W-Wait, what about Bulat and… Esdeath?"

Chelsa could only sweat-drop as a response. Looks like she'll have to babysit two girls for the next few hours then… and she could only imagine how the others were handling their own situations.

Nonetheless, it was the day that the former members of Night Raid and the two former Jaegers took their first step in the new world they were in, as part of Tatsumi Raum's peerage.

* * *

_**And that wraps up this chapter! Finally, we'll be able to move forward with the story, now that Tatsumi's whole peerage is attending Kuoh Academy. That opening scene with Chelsea is actually development, so keep track of Tatsumi's interactions with the girls. It would help you in the long run, trust me.**_

_**Next chapter, we'll be covering how Akame, Chelsea and Sheele would handle introductions as well as the others having to deal with their own situations and hopefully, more of the supernatural stuff.**_

_**Oh, just a little heads-up. I've implied that Akame, Chelsea and Sheele are classmates with Matsuda and Motohama, meaning they are in the same class where Issei was in canon. Now I did say that Issei is not in Kuoh here, so you have to understand why I said "Perverted Duo" and not "trio", but who knows? Lubbock might end up joining them, lol. Anyways, see you guys in the next chapter!**_

_**Tatsumi's peerage:**_

_**King: Tatsumi**_

_**Queen: Esdeath**_

_**Bishop: Mine**_

_**Bishop: Lubbock**_

_**Rook: Leone**_

_**Rook: Bulat**_

_**Knight: Akame**_

_**Knight: Kurome**_

_**Pawn (4x): Chelsea**_

_**Pawn (4x): Sheele**_

_**Goodbye… and good night! BANG! *too sweet gesture***_

_**-Lance**_


	9. Introductions and a New Club

_**FINALLY! God, what a tiring month… I've just gotten through my school's finals week and I'm drained as hell. Luckily, I've been writing this new chapter bit by bit everyday while also focusing on my studies, now it's finally here.**_

_**Before we head on to the story, I just want to inform everyone that the timeline I'll be using here is DxD, so I'm gonna be using a lot of events and arcs from there. However, I'll also be incorporating a few AGK arcs in the story (with a twist of DxD hehe) in order to not make it one-sided. That's all I want to say for now.**_

_**Enjoy the chapter!**_

_**Disclaimer: I don't own Akame ga kill, Highschool DxD, or any of its characters…**_

* * *

"Come on girls, just tell everyone your names and a little something about yourselves and then we'll be done." the teacher beside the three devils stated, trying to ease the nervousness that the other two were feeling.

"Yeah come on, you two…" Chelsea tried to help by being cheerful as always, turning towards her teammates. "It's not so bad introducing yourself to other people, right? Besides, we're required to do this so there's no other way around it…"

She received no response from the two, just a look of embarrassment on Akame's face and a confused expression for Sheele.

Chelsea groaned underneath her smiling face, not liking the fact that she has to be the mature one this time. She liked being carefree and outgoing, and certainly _not_ like a big sister who had to take responsibility of her younger siblings. That would be Leone's job, not hers.

"Oh, for the love of —" she nearly spat out, before shaking her head with an annoyed expression. "I'll just go first! You guys better be ready by then!" she rolled her eyes before facing the whole class with her radiant smile, doing a complete 180.

She waved her hand in greeting before sending a wink that made the Perverted Duo have giant hearts for their eyes. "Hi, guys! My name is Chelsea Brooks, nice to meet you all!" She then pulled her lollipop out of her mouth and sat on top of the desk belonging to one of the females who sat in front of the class. "I come from America, but then I moved to Japan because of some family issues. I hope we can get along!" she continued, remembering the cover-up story that Tatsumi told her in order to keep her real identity a secret.

The teacher in front shook her head and sighed. "That's good Chelsea-chan, but next time, don't make sitting on top of desks an eventual habit. It's a sign of disrespect. And please wear your uniform properly, it's distracting _others_, if you get my point." she said, glancing at the Perverted Duo who were still ogling the auburn-haired girl.

"Sorry, sensei." Chelsea turned to her, retaining her smile even though she just got scolded. She fixed her uniform, but she was sure to unbutton the blouse again later on. She liked the freedom, that's why.

"Moving on, you can take that empty spot near the window and then we can proceed to your two friends." she then pointed to the right side of the room where the window to the outside was located. Chelsea nodded and with a small bow to the rest of the class, she went to her seat and plopped down, but not before sending a look towards Akame that signalled it was her turn to introduce herself.

Before the red-eyed teen could say anything, their teacher turned to her with a smile of encouragement. "Now young lady, could you introduce yourself to us now?" The response she got was a small 'eep' from Akame, making the woman sweat-drop. Is this the first time this girl has been to a school? "I-It's not hard, and don't worry about your classmates, they're not going to judge you, if that's what you're afraid of."

"I… I…" Akame tried to sputter out, as Chelsea looked like she lost all signs of hope for the raven-haired girl.

"Just tell everyone your name, then some of your hobbies if you have any…" their teacher spoke again, hoping that this would be the last straw. Because if the girl would still act all shy around everyone, then it would be better off moving on to the one with purple hair. Introductions can wait another day for the poor girl.

"I'm… I'm… Hirano Akame." Akame finally blurted out, although in a low tone that was only enough for the teacher and some of the students in the first rows to hear. It prompted the students sitting in the back to move closer in order to be able to hear her. Just from her name, they could point out that she was Japanese, so there was no need to tell where she came from. "I… I like training with my sword and… and eating meat!" she exclaimed with more confidence in the end. Looks like anything about meat was enough to keep her happy.

Chelsea shook her head and sighed. Oh well, at least it didn't go bad entirely right? For a moment, she got worried that Akame would reveal that she was an assassin who knew how to use a sword proficiently, but judging from the looks of their classmates, they didn't think of anything suspicious. In fact, two of them in particular, had wide smiles on their faces upon hearing that Akame had experience with a sword. They were definitely going to have a little talk when they have the time, that's for sure. Anyway, that's one problem down as their teacher told Akame to sit near the window as well, and Chelsea was just near her about two chairs away.

Now, the auburn-haired girl turned her head to the next girl in front, and until now she wasn't expecting much from her, if there was even anything to expect.

Sheele had her hands clasped in front of her like always before bowing her head slightly. "M-My name is Sheele… uh, Fiores?" she paused midway to remember the surname that Tatsumi gave to her, earning some confusion from her classmates and questions if she was unsure of her name herself.

_"This couldn't go on any worse…" _Chelsea sighed to herself and shook her head again, almost tempted to just turn away and look out the window to avert her gaze from the purple-haired girl in front.

"I… " Sheele was in deep thought again, thinking about what she loved to do. It was how Akame introduced herself before her, so by logic, Sheele should… follow her lead? Well anyways, a sudden thought came into her mind. "Oh, yes! I love doing household chores for my friends! They're the only things I do when I'm at home."

Her answer obviously got confused stares from her newfound classmates. She loved to do chores? Seriously, what kind of teenager would be fond of _that_? If Sheele didn't have the Kuoh academy uniform, some of her fellow classmates would think that she was a maid of sorts. And doing it for her friends, nonetheless? Okay, something was really fishy here but none of them dared to even ask a question as they were still confused with their purple-haired classmate.

Meanwhile, Akame and Chelsea could only roll their eyes. _"It's better if you're not doing any chores at all…" _both thought at the same time, knowing how Sheele could screw up just about anything she tries to do. Even though it was a horrible memory, Akame would never forget the time when Sheele burned all the meat she was cooking during their time in Night Raid. Oh Satan, if it weren't for her friends keeping her restrained, the **Extase **user would be buried right there for wasting something as _sacred_ as meat. Chelsea on the other hand, never knew Sheele due to the latter's 'death' at the hands of Seryu but heard enough from her friends about how the purple-haired airhead fails horribly in anything she does, except for being an assassin.

Their teacher also shared a look of confusion, before faking a cough to get the whole class back on track. "Well, I believe that ends this introduction… thank you, Sheele-chan." she then pointed to the desk beside Akame's. "You can take your seat beside Akame-chan's desk and we can move on with today's lesson."

"Y-Yes, sensei." Sheele turned to her new teacher and bowed once again, before walking towards her assigned place. However, it won't be the same without her _somehow _ending up in another moment that showed her airheadedness.

***THUD***

"-!" Sheele fell over on all fours as she bumped into one of her female classmates' desks, which caused her glasses to drop onto the floor.

"Hey are you alright there?!" the girl asked in concern, getting off her chair to help Sheele. "Up you go…" she then acted as a support so that her new classmate can stand up. "There. Yo, did you hurt anything down there? I can take you to the clinic if you want. Name's Hana, pleased to meet you!" she offered, remembering that it was the girl's right thigh that collided with her desk.

However, Sheele already looked dumbfounded as her entire vision went blurry. Bringing a hand up to her face, she felt a particular _accessory_ was missing from her features. Welp, this could only mean one thing…

"OH NO, MY GLASSES!"

Sheele already dropped to the ground again and started to feel everything around her in an attempt to locate her missing accessory. The sound of crickets chirping in the classroom followed, as all of Sheele's classmates could only stare at her, unsure what of what they should be feeling at the moment. Even the Perverted Duo who were basically ogling her earlier (especially her huge assets) ended up gaining confused looks by the end of it.

"No, no, no, I can't lose them! I'm practically blind without my glasses!" she wailed, just as Hana quietly knelt and picked up Sheele's glasses… which were no less than 10 inches away from her.

From the sidelines, Akame and Chelsea could only look at each other with a massive sweat-drop on their heads. Even though they were only starting classes today, they could already tell that things will definitely be hard to handle with Sheele being in the same room as them.

* * *

In the neighboring room next door, two other members of the Raum peerage were also in the midst of their own introductions in front of the class. Compared to the girls earlier, Mine and Lubbock seemed to be quite fine with everything; both weren't feeling shy, awkward or even confused and they were _honestly _glad to be classmates. During their days in Night Raid, they had built a good relationship as friends to the point that they were like brother and sister.

Lubbock ran his hand through his green locks, before making a dramatic pose as if he was making a grand entrance. There were also a few sparkles behind hi to emphasize that. "The name's Lubbock Lemmenez, but you can call me 'Lubba' for short! Hope we can get along, everyone!" he grinned, before sending a wink that made some of the girls in the room have hearts for eyes. "Especially to you, ladies~" he wiggled his eyebrows at the end of his statement, eliciting a few girlish squeals from his classmates.

Outside of his perversion (which was irritating most of the time), Lubbock was fairly attractive based on looks alone and the training he went through as an assassin made his _physical _traits stand out even more. Looking at the reactions of his classmates, he was surprised that there were some of the girls there who stared at him as if they had found their one true love. Some of the males looked at him with jealous faces, mostly because the girls of this class were hard to impress, and Lubba just comes in and takes all their attention for himself. First, Tatsumi from the third-years and now this guy? This caused a small grin of triumph to flash on Lubbock's face, before a smack to the back of his head cut him off from his own thoughts.

"Stop flirting this early, or I'll tell everyone what's behind this little show you're putting up." Mine had a tick mark on her head as Lubbock looked horrified at her statement. That obviously meant she was going to reveal that he was a pervert deep inside, and he didn't want that! He wanted to keep this good image of him in the eyes of his classmates while he had it. He gulped slowly, before raising his hands in defeat as he backed away from the pinkette.

_"Now be a good boy and just stay there," _she thought, obviously proud of herself for handling that little problem like it was nothing. Now that that was over, Mine turned her attention to the classroom and almost immediately, her serious demeanor turned into sudden nervousness. She felt overwhelmed with this many people around her, and she wasn't used to feeling like this. Back in her village, she was treated as an outcast so she was used to being isolated and alone. Her time as an assassin further prolonged that feeling. Now, she was back to mingling with others as part of being a student here and she had to adjust.

Mine looked down and bit her lip, as her face burned with embarrassment. _"I… I can't do this… I… can't…" _she said in her thoughts, in conflict with her own self. She gripped her fists tight as everyone looked at her in confusion, wondering if there was something wrong. Even Lubbock looked at her with pure concern in his eyes. Since they were friends, he knew of Mine's difficulty in interacting with others due to her past, but he couldn't do anything right now because that would arouse suspicion that they have some kind of relationship with one another.

Then it hit her. What was there to be scared about? She had gone through many challenges throughout her life, even surpassing her own death and getting brought back to this world to start anew. Can this little thing even compare to all that she experienced along the way?

_"No. I have to do this! I can't let Tatsumi down!" _she thought to herself, drawing courage from the feelings she's had for Tatsumi ever since. Tatsumi was always so determined and focused during their time spent in Night Raid despite being a bit of a rookie in the assassin ways, and that was honestly a trait worthy of being inspiring. Add to that, Tatsumi was their leader now, and the only thing she can do was to fulfill her role in this new life. Taking a deep breath, she relaxed her arms and looked up with a mix of both determination and nervousness on her face. "G-Good morning!" she spoke all of a sudden, surprising a few people there. "My name is Miyamoto Mine, and… I hope to become friends with everyone here!" she bowed her head in quite a frantic manner, a clear sign that she was trying to adjust to her new environment.

Their male teacher, who was standing by the window, smiled in greeting. "Good morning to you two as well, Mine-san and Lubbock-kun. I hope you enjoy your time here in this school with the whole class and be friends with everyone here!" He then pointed to the two empty chairs near the middle of the room. "You two can take those seats there and we can start the class for today."

The two former assassins nodded and walked towards their directed places only for them to be stopped by a girl with shoulder-length, reddish-brown hair that had swept bangs and brown eyes. She reached out to grab Mine's hand and began to shake it almost like in a frantic manner, as the pinkette had a surprised look on her face.

"Good morning to you both, especially you Mine!" the girl spoke, letting go of Mine's hand. "The name's Meguri Tomoe, and I'm a part of the student council here! If you ever need help or have concerns with something, don't hesitate to come talk to me about it! Let's be friends, okay?"

Mine still had that look of surprise, and she was unable to give an answer to that due to it. But just when she was about to say something as a response, another girl walked up to her and placed a hand on her shoulder, making Mine quickly jolt her head to her direction out of instinct.

"It looks like you're feeling out of place, aren't ya?" said a girl with brown hair tied into a bun. "No need to feel uncomfortable around here with everyone else! I'm Kaoruko Haruka, pleased to meet you! Let's be friends, okay?"

Once again, Mine was unable to come up with an answer. Perhaps she was feeling too out of it? Wait, this wasn't like her at all! Despite her inability to speak, almost all of the girls in the classroom along with a few males have stood up and each one of them approached and made their introductions. What a way to start class this morning… oh right, their teacher behind them was trying to get them to sit down and let the class continue but seemed to look like ge was just fine with what's happening. He noticed immediately that Mine was socially awkward the moment she first spoke in front, and that's not something to be appreciated. Hopefully, these students might be able to break her out of that shell.

Lubbock chose to simply keep his distance and watch Mine trying to respond well to their other classmates. Since he was already friends with her before all of this, he knew that the pinkette had difficulties in being with other people whom she didn't know or at least those who she aren't familiar with. Hell, Mine nearly killed him when he 'accidentally' walked into the bath while she was still there if it weren't for the steam all over the place that day. But as time passed, they had become close friends and comrades throughout their time in Night Raid. There were times where she would act tsundere and be rather bitchy to him, but her true personality also had its moments.

_"This takes me back…" _he thought with a smile, watching this little scene before him. _"Mine always has a tough time being around other people, yet she's with classmates who are quite hyper and energetic… Tatsumi you bastard, you planned for this to happen, didn't you?" _he chuckled just as Mine looked like she was on the verge of tears, causing the other students around her to come to a stop.

"Hey, what's wrong?"

"You okay there, Mine?"

"You look like you're about to cry, what happened?"

"Oh my goodness! Did we do something wrong?!"

Those were just some of the questions that their classmates asked the pink-haired sniper, but Lubbock didn't look worried at all. In fact, he had a smirk on his face as his hands were tucked inside his pockets.

_"Nah, she's not upset or anything… I say she's happier than she's ever been." _he continued in his mind, while eyeing the small smile that formed at the edge of Mine's lips as her tears continued to flow. _"Even though she looks uncomfortable with them gathered around her, she's happy that this place isn't anything like her home village."_

* * *

Above that particular classroom was another one, this time being home to third-year Kuoh academy students. One student, a female in particular, stood in front wearing a wide smile on her face as the various males all had hearts for their eyes due to her sheer beauty. Some of the other girls in the class were looking at her in envy, mainly due to how she outclassed them in just about everything in the looks department, while the rest looked eager to add a new member to the family.

"Now class, since we have a new student joining us today, it's only appropriate that a proper introduction is made." The teacher said, sitting comfortably behind her desk as she looked at the whole class. "You can now begin, young lady." she told the blonde woman standing in front of everyone else.

Nodding to her teacher, Leone cleared her throat before flashing a bright smile and waving her hand in greeting. "Hello, everyone! My name is Leone Liberti, coming all the way here to Japan from Italy! Let's all get along!" she said, adding a bit of Italian accent to her words to make it look like she was a real foreigner. Last night, Tatsumi taught her about it to further conceal her identity and when he expressed concern that she didn't need to force herself, Leone insisted that she could manage all by herself.

So far, so good.

"If that's the case, then where are you currently staying here in Japan?" the teacher asked, genuinely curious but it would also help if she knew where her students lived. Perhaps some home visits every now and then would further strengthen her relationship with them.

"Oh, that's an easy question! I'm staying with my _good _friend, which is Tatsumi right over there!" she made to emphasize the word 'good' while pointing towards the young man sitting near the middle of the room, who now had the attention of everybody else towards him.

Tatsumi looked surprised for a moment as everyone's eyes were now directed upon him before he sighed. _"Of course she would do something like this," _he thought to himself, before thinking of a possible way to get himself out of this particular situation. But just as he was left in his own world, most of his male classmates already had eyes filled with jealousy while a few females were looking at both him and Leone alternately with looks of annoyance and irritation.

"DAMN IT, TATSUMI! LEAVE SOME GIRLS FOR US!"

"WHY CAN'T I BE AS POPULAR AS YOU?"

"YOU JUST HAD TO SWOOP IN AND TAKE ANOTHER GIRL FOR YOURSELF, HUH?!"

"Now I suddenly don't have a nice feeling about this girl. Does she plan on taking Tatsumi-kun for herself?"

"How does she get to be with Hirano-kun that easily? I bet she used those huge knockers to make him fall for her charms…"

"This is not fair! Tatsumi-kun was supposed to be with me after I confess! There must be something wrong going on here…"

The whole class was a ruckus afterwards, which was enough to snap Tatsumi out of his temporary trance and, he didn't even get to think of a possible solution. Because of this, he simply resorted to giving Leone a serious look that said "fix this mess that you started", and the **Lionelle **user only giggled in response, clearly enjoying this moment while it lasted. Tatsumi rolled his eyes and rested his elbow on his desk, before leaning his head into his palm, unaffected even though his classmates looked like they were in the midst of a riot while their teacher tried her best to calm everyone down.

A few moments later, Leone decided that it was enough having fun on her part and just get this over with. Luckily, her classmates were already beginning to simmer down with their noise when their teacher started to threaten them with a 3-day suspension.

"Um guys, just in case you're wondering, nothing's going on between me and Tatsumi." she said with a nervous smile, while scratching the back of her neck. That alone got her classmates to shut up and listen, and Leone can only hope that she would sound convincing enough. Some of them had looks of confusion, so now she had to explain a bit further.

"Yes, I'm just living with him temporarily and he even shows me around since I'm unfamiliar with… Japan and all. I plan on moving out once I've saved up enough money for an apartment of my own!"

Many of her classmates let out a big sigh of relief, now that that was assured. Honestly it was really a big deal, since Tatsumi could very likely get a pass as one of the hottest boys in Kuoh Academy, the news of him getting a girlfriend will obviously be a hot topic all over the school, much more if that girl was someone whom they weren't familiar with at all.

"Anyways, I'm currently 21 years old… I love surprises, parties, and drinking!" she exclaimed with her hands thrown up in the air, and almost immediately her newfound friends began to like her more and more. She may be a foreigner, but she sure has the same definition of 'fun' as a normal teenager like them. Yeah, she'd definitely fit in with them.

"Thank you for that introduction, Leone-chan. I hope you enjoy your new life here in Kuoh. Please take your seat in one of the empty chairs in the room, then we can start this day formally." the teacher said with a gentle smile, standing up from her desk and began to write on the chalkboard.

Leone nodded and briefly skipped over to where Tatsumi was, ignoring the looks of the boys who wanted her to sit beside them. Compared to the other year levels, the third-year students in every class were less, ranging from only ten to fifteen. This resulted in having more empty seats around the rooms, and it created an opportunity for Leone to sit beside Tatsumi, who had literally no one around him since he was seated at the middle of the room. Of course, there were other girls who wanted to take that opportunity as well, but the problem is that they were too shy and they could very well spend the whole day swooning over their crush. Well that, and they had to pay attention to the lessons if they wanted to graduate.

The teacher showed concern when she noticed where Leone wished to sit. "Are you sure you want to sit there, Leone-chan? You might not be able to see the lecture properly."

"It's okay, sensei. I can manage, and…" she took a glance at Tatsumi, before a small blush appeared on her face. "I'll feel more comfortable being here with Tatsumi around." The teacher nodded in understanding and went back to writing on the board. Meanwhile, some of her classmates noticed that blush on her and they already felt like fools, since they knew what it meant. So this woman was lying to them all along just to get closer to Tatsumi?

…

…

…

Leone took her seat, apparently not caring for the looks that some of her classmates gave her while Tatsumi himself barely moved from the position he was in since earlier, only turning his eyes slightly to look at her.

"Did you really have to say that?" he asked rhetorically, with a hint of both irritation and amusement in his tone. Of course, he knew why she would say _that_, she wouldn't be Leone if she didn't. If circumstances were different, he would've just laughed earlier instead of acting like he didn't give a shit.

"Say what, the part about me staying in your home or the part where I said I'm more comfortable with you around~?" she teased, leaning towards him.

Tatsumi rolled his eyes. "You know what I'm talking about," he said in an unamused tone, showing that he wanted the direct answer.

She placed her hands on her hips and began to explain. "Well, what did you want me to say? I live nearby? I live with my parents? I'm chilling under a bridge? You never said anything about what I must tell all of them while in front, and the reason why I said it was just because I felt like it. Happy?"

"Hm," was Tatsumi's simple response. He still felt like Leone did it on purpose just to mess with him since that's what she always does.

"But…" she flashed a teasing smile once again before twirling some strands of his hair with her fingers. "I'm definitely not kidding about the part where I'm more comfortable with you around~"

Despite the blush that was growing on his face, Tatsumi kept his eyes on the chalkboard, because he was sure that he'd fall for Leone antics yet again even if he just looked at her. Luckily, their teacher was _graceful _enough to take a glance at her class, allowing her to see what was Leone trying to do.

She put her hands on her hips and frowned. "Leone-chan, I understand that you're close friends wirh Tatsumi-kun but can you please pay attention to the lesson instead of him? Flirting won't get you any closer to graduation."

Leone immediately moved away from Tatsumi and bowed her head in shame, while some of her classmates looked at her in suspicion. She was definitely trying to make some moves on the hottest boy in class. "Y-Yes, sensei." she said in a grim tone, as the teacher nodded in understanding. Once she felt that she was no longer the center of attention, she turned towards Tatsumi, who had a small smirk on his face.

Leone pouted in response, and simply rested her head on top of her arms on the desk in boredom. It was a different situation when they were back home, that even the slightest joke from her can get him embarrassed. But damn, if Tatsumi was this hard to tease during class hours, then the remaining days of her time here would be nothing but boring.

_"What's the point of being classmates with him if I can't mess with him all the time? This is no fun at all." _she thought with a sigh.

* * *

Two floors beneath the third-years was the place for the first-year students, the kouhais of Kuoh Academy. Although they were treated most of the time like children by their senpais, they are far more educated than an elementary student since they are now in high school.

In one of the rooms near the academy's P.E. grounds, another introduction was taking place as the ebony-haired sister of Akame stood in front of her new classmates holding her bag of candies that she carried everywhere she went.

"My name is _-munch- _Hirano Kurome _-munch- _nice to _-munch- _meet you." the young girl said with her usual blank look, while taking small bites from one of the chocolate chip cookies in her bag that Tatsumi kindly prepared for her in advance. This garnered mixed reactions from her classmates; most of the girls were weirded out by her strange demeanor while the rest were simply happy to have a new friend in the room. Some of the boys were the same, looking forward to making a new friend while nearly half of them thought she was also weird. However, there were about two or three of them who had a small blush on their faces, and we all know what this meant.

"O-Okay Kurome-chan, now w-why don't you tell us about your likes and dislikes?" Even the teacher herself had a strange feeling about this girl, but as a teacher, she had to put aside her feelings and focus on the job.

"I like _-munch- _my candies, my Big Sis, _-munch- _the General, _-munch- _and Tatsumi-nii. I dislike my enemies, _-munch- _and anyone who steals my candies." she answered in a straightforward manner.

If the whole class wasn't weirded out before, well they were definitely like that right now. Okay, liking candies and her big sister, nothing strange about those things. There was also nothing weird about disliking her enemies, but did she even have _those _at her current age? Yes, there was also nothing wrong with hating those who steal her candies, maybe she was just possessive of them.

But what the hell did she mean by 'General'? Was it a toy soldier that she owned? Perhaps a character from an anime show whom she idolized? Or… maybe a soldier? Damn, she was becoming weirder and weirder by the moment! It didn't help that she had a kuudere tone and personality too, and that would only make things harder for her classmates, not that she had anything to do with it.

Now for the last thing that she liked as she stated earlier, boy, there was no need for questions regarding it.

Everyone in the Raum household could see it coming, Kurome developing an attachment to her king, the moment he gave her that jar of candies when they woke up after hundreds of years. After she finished that particular jar, Kurome went to him so she could ask for more, and flashed a rare smile when Tatsumi gladly refilled its contents with more candy. Who cares where Tatsumi got them, the important thing is that she had her candy. The weekend passed with Kurome asking for more candy at least two more times and that was where it started. She now looked up to Tatsumi like a big brother of sorts, since he would gladly do the things Akame would do for her just to make her happy. That and he was kind enough to reunite both sisters despite Kurome not even knowing him at a personal level compared to Akame.

However, that was not the way her classmates took in her words.

Some were in disbelief that she referred to Tatsumi as her brother, but were they blood related? Impossible, they have different last names but could it mean that they have some kind of hidden pseudo-brother and sister relationship going on? Does she _look up _to Tatsumi Hinogawa of Kuoh academy like a brother? Wait, how did that even happen in the first place, she was just starting in this school!

The rest of them, including their teacher had their jaws dropping into the floor as they were thinking that Kurome had a crush on a _third-year_ student, who was at least _eight years older _than her! Okay fine, it's not really uncommon to have a crush on someone older than her but to say it with a blank face like it was nothing? YES, SHE'S DEFINITELY WEIRD, THERE'S NO DOUBT ABOUT IT NOW! Few of the girls made a mental note to never interact with her, for their own sake. The three students who were just developing a small crush on the girl already had their hopes shattered, since they knew that they can't compete against the so-called 'Prince of Kuoh Academy' if Kurome had a crush on him.

Meanwhile, Kurome kept her blank look as she continued to eat her candies, unphased with their reactions like it was a normal phenomenon.

"O-O-O-Okay, y-y-y-y-you c-c-can t-take y-your s-s-seat n-now, K-K-Kurome-chan…" the teacher stuttered, as her mind imagined the possibilities in which she would encounter this young girl to help in her academics for this school year.

Oh dear, it was a miracle she wasn't fainting out of panic.

Kurome only nodded and headed towards the empty seat next to the open window that showed the P.E. grounds, still keeping her calm face despite everything. However, her eyes couldn't avert their gaze to the two people out in the field; even though she won't be able to interact with them, at the very least, she can see the two and feel more comfortable around her new classroom than her usual demeanor.

* * *

"Good morning everyone," she said in the same cold tone that made her soldiers shiver in fear. It had the same effect on the students, causing her to smirk. Oh Satan, how she missed this feeling… But seriously, if it wasn't for the big guy that was standing next to her wearing the same uniform, the students wouldn't think twice about running away.

"I will be your new P.E. instructor starting today. My name is Hinogawa Eri, and it's a _pleasure _meeting you all." Esdeath said, flashing a sadistic grin afterwards. It was a bit hard coming up for another alias she could use, despite her insisting that her real name was fine. But Tatsumi was worried that someone would be suspicious over a teacher who literally had the word 'death' included in her name, so he pushed throuvh with the fake name. Esdeath finally agreed in the end, in return for a particular _request_.

"Okay you brats, now that the pleasantries are over, let's make a few things clear. I am not here to play nice, and I'm not here so you can take things easy and not give it your all." Her eyes gave a colder look, if that was possible. "I'm here to push you all to your limits and go past that, because you _will _do as I say. And in the future, you will eventually learn and find out that my teachings helped you in your lives. _Are we clear_?" she narrowed her eyes at them.

Everyone nodded, fearing what could happen if they don't.

"Now then, I will inform you that while you are under tutelage, expect nothing less that the lessons you will learn is no different than soldiers who undergo years of training to prepare for war. Actually, it may even be worse than that." This made the bluenette ponder over it for a second before her grin widened. "No, it _will _be more intense than it, I guarantee. You must be at your absolute best when you face your lives outside of this school in the future!"

While Esdeath, or now known as Eri-sensei to the students, went on rambling about how was she going to turn them into the strongest they could possibly be, mutiple whispers and gossips could be heard throughout the class.

"I think she's going way too over the top…"

"I'm scared, to be honest…"

"I don't even know if I can last a month with her as our instructor…"

"I want to die already…"

Esdeath smiled, hearing some of their murmurs as she relished in this particular feeling once more. That feeling when she was in control of her own soldiers and it was her who trained them all on her own. Sure, these students may act like this initially but honestly, her soldiers in the past went through the same thing. They were scared shitless of what they had to face, but by the end of it, they were indeed a force to be reckoned with, just like what Tatsumi said. So, whether her students liked it or not, it was for their own good and to help them prepare for the future ahead.

Good thing that that future didn't anymore involve becoming soldiers who were ready to die for a corrupt empire, though.

However, in the midst of listening to their silent responses, there was one statement in particular, that made her eyebrow twitch.

"Oi, sensei's got the same last name as Tatsumi-senpai. Does this mean they're related or something?"

No. No, it wasn't like that at all!

"You know what, I noticed it too. Is she like, his mom or something? Man, I feel bad for him if he has to deal with someone as strict as her everyday…"

"No, no, I'm getting more of a terror-aunt vibe from her instead of a mom. Besides, if she's really senpai's mother, I wonder how he can stay sane up until now."

Esdeath looked down with her hair shadowing over her entire face. She clenched her fists tightly, indicating that she was pissed. How dare her students assume she was Tatsumi's _mother_?! She _chose _to have the same name as Tatsumi to make it look like she was his wife! She wasn't his mother, aunt, or any family member for that matter! Esdeath considered freezing the puny boy who suggested that delusional hypothesis as her aura began to grow, but before it went further, a hand was placed on her shoulder.

Now she was considering to kill _whoever _placed his/her hand on her shoulder at a time like this. Someone's just itching to die by her hand, huh? Well that won't be a problem. However, the moment she saw who it was, her eyes widened momentarily before going back to a simple glare.

Bulat looked at her with an impassive expression, his eyes telling her all that he needed to say. His job was, of course, to keep Esdeath from doing anything _stupid _(things that would give away her real identity) and luckily for him, the pale woman understood his expression as she simply looked away with a scowl. She suddenly lost the excitement she was exhibiting earlier at the prospect of teaching a new generation of soldiers (students), all because of one simple assumption.

Talk about overreacting.

Bulat sighed at the complex personality that Esdeath had, but on the other hand, it also gave him an opportunity to introduce himself to his students. Clapping his hands thrice, he managed to take their attention away from the scowling Eri-sensei and into him, as he cleared his throat.

"Now I'm sure you've all heard what Eri-sensei just told you all earlier, and I'm gonna be the first to tell you, she's not kidding around." Bulat shook his head sadly, knowing that if Esdeath wanted to push them to their limits, she'd do it and he can do nothing but support her, but make sure that she doesn't go _too _far. Plus, she had a point with her logic about being prepared for what's about to come in their lives. Be it a good life filled with happiness or a sad one filled with sorrow, they had to be prepared.

_"Don't remind us…" _was the same thought of nearly all the students there.

He flashed a toothy grin and pointed to himself. "But do not fret, for I will be here to assist everyone in going through our classes!" Compared to Esdeath, he had an aura that exhibited enthusiasm and thrill, and this got the students' full attention as the blue-haired teacher quietly walked off to tend to something else. "My full name's Bulat Rumelhart, but please just refer to me as 'Bulat-sensei', since you really don't want to use my last name. I was born in England, but I moved to Japan with my family about a few years ago and now I'll be your assistant instructor for P.E. class!" he winked afterwards, as sparkles surrounded his whole body.

Most of the girls looked at him as if they had just found their knight in shining armor who was about to rescue them from the mean, blue dragon while the boys suddenly had an urge to protect themselves and their sanity from this guy just from seeing those sparkles and his wink.

_Oh, if they only knew…_

***PRRRRRRRTTTTTT!***

The sound of a whistle interrupted them from their conversation as everyone turned to where the noise originated from. Eri-sensei once again had that sadistic smirk on her face that made the students fear for their lives and caused Bulat to deadpan.

_"Seriously?" _he asked himself as he looked at what's before him. In the span of about two minutes, Esdeath had created an obstacle course involving a tire track, a pair of weights, three columns, and a basketball with a ring and net.

"Now that the introductions are over, let's get down to business." she turned to her little creation and began to explain loudly so that she can be heard. "What you see before you is a mini obstacle course that I myself created just now. What you must do is first run through the tire track there, and you are only allowed to step on the holes. This will test your coordination and see how well your muscles can respond to what you see. Once you have cleared that track, you are to cross over to the three columns while pulling a pair of weights, which will test your strength. After you are done pulling, you are to go over those columns with only a single jump, how you do it is up to you. That will test your agility. Once you have cleared all three, the last thing you need to do is shoot that ball into the five times and cross the finish line, which would be me. Your last test shall be hand-eye coordination, and you better not fail horribly in any of these or there will be _proper _training for you." Esdeath then walked over a few feet past the ring and net, before pulling out a stopwatch and a record book.

"Wait, what am I supposed to do?" Bulat asked, confused on where should he be while this was happening.

"Oh Bulat, your job is to bring the weights back near the tire track once the student carrying them has reached the columns. With your strength, it shouldn't be a problem." Esdeath stated and he nodded in response, just as she turned her attention back to the students.

"I will be calling each of you by your names, alphabetically, and you will proceed to go through this course as I told you. I shall record your elapsed time all throughout and keep an eye on which physical attribute you are lacking in. Is everyone ready?" she asked with a grin.

The students could've sworn that they saw lightning flash behind Eri-sensei as dark clouds loomed over, and they could only turn their heads towards the one person who can possibly help them. _"Bulat-sensei! Help us!" _they screamed internally, their eyes begging for help.

Bulat turned to them, laughing nervously while rubbing the back of his head. "G-Good luck, everyone? I hope you do your best…" Even he was sure that he didn't sound convincing at all, as Esdeath's voice rang inside his ears again.

"Bulat, get moving!" Eri-sensei ordered, her hands planted on her hips.

"H-Hai…" he could only look away from the students in defeat, jogging over to where the weights were placed.

_"NOOOOOOO!" _the students comically cried with anime tears when their last of ray of hope just turned his back on them and ran away.

"Now then…" Esdeath took one last look at everything, and seeing that everything was in order, she smirked.

"Let's begin."

One of the students had already fainted just by hearing those words, while everyone else continued to cry anime tears in fear of their own bodies getting broken while under Eri-sensei's tutelage.

_"I expected nothing less from Esdeath's style of teaching."_ Bulat simply sighed and shook his head, as he watched his fellow teacher call upon lucky student #1 in her record book.

* * *

**(That afternoon)**

The day went on normally like any school day, and the members of the Raum peerage were adjusting quite easily to this school life that their leader had (of course, Sheele was an exception). If they had to compare, it was just like they were training once again to be assassins, but it also wasn't like that all. In general, all of their classmates were more open than what they expected, but making new friends was a matter for another day. Today they would just focus on getting around this place and becoming familiar with it.

For Esdeath's case, it was just like her days as a general of the empire, and although she didn't want to admit it, the feeling of teaching students under her wing was quite nostalgic and there were a few times where she almost treated the little brats like one of her regular soldiers. Luckily, Bulat was there to keep her in control and if he also had to be honest, it wasn't all bad that he had to be an assistant instructor to her. Seeing lots of fresh new faces becoming physically stronger thanks to their lessons brought a smile to his face, and it only made him wish that he was a separate teacher on his own. But whatever, being an assistant teacher beats being a teacher, that's for sure.

The first-years and second-years had the same lunch periods, so the whole group was able to get together in the cafeteria to eat except for Leone, Esdeath, Bulat and Tatsumi. The remaining members of the Raum peerage there each talked about how they went through their first day of classes, and they all shared a laugh at how they had different yet interesting experiences just hours ago.

An hour after that, the third-years would have their lunch period along with the teachers, so it was Leone, Bulat and Esdeath sharing a table. Tatsumi had to excuse himself since there was an important matter that he had to talk about with Sona, leaving only the three devils at the table. Esdeath considered following her king and see what he and Sona were going to discuss, but Bulat and Leone quickly shot her down by saying eavesdropping is wrong. The bluenette hesitantly relented in what she wanted to do, although she still wanted to know.

Her question would be answered today, that's for sure.

The school bell rung after 2:30 in the afternoon, and before leaving, Tatsumi told Leone to gather all of the other members of the peerage and meet him at the back of the academy, for he had something important to show them.

And that was how it led to the Raum peerage… cleaning the old school building?

Behind the academy was a smaller establishment that used to be the original school, until the newer and bigger Kuoh academy was founded. It was also abandoned, with only a few mischief-seekers coming and going every now and then, for reasons that nobody knows. And yet, it's interior couldn't be considered the same as that of an abandoned house; all it needed was some renovation, some cleaning, and perhaps it can be restored!

Inside it, we find the Raum peerage in the middle of said cleaning and renovating, all of them working together to move furniture and clean every corner. Kurome was cleaning the windows, Chelsea and Mine swept and mopped the floor, Bulat did the heavy lifting with the furniture, Leone and Akame worked together on the walls, Lubbock focused on the ceiling, and Esdeath worked on removing dust from the furniture. They were lucky Tatsumi was using his magic to help out all of them, that saved them a LOT of work. But the _best_ part was that Sheele was simply waiting outside the building, waiting for everyone to finish!

At first, Esdeath was shocked when Tatsumi gave the order to help in renovating the old school building and demanded an explanation as to why. Hey, why would she even do something like _that_? She thought herself above this. Cleaning was for maids and servants, and she wasn't one of those. She even suggested that Tatsumi should just teach them how to utilize magic to make things easier for them but he show that down since the place wasn't a proper area for them to train in magic. Unfortunately for her, she was once again forced into a corner when Tatsumi explained that this place was crucial in order for her to work up the ranks in becoming a high-class devil, causing her to reluctantly give in. Fine, the sooner she can be one of those, then she wouldn't have to worry about degrading herself to the point of doing _household chores_. For now, she'll cooperate with what Tatsumi wanted… she was sure that she can regain whatever pride she was losing anyway.

Leone was equally confused like her, so she decided to voice her opinion. "Tatsumi, why exactly are we cleaning this place?" she asked. "I'm not complaining like Ice Queen over there since this is actually something nice to do after a long boring day of classes." she said, and Esdeath just chose to _ignore _that remark. "But there's gotta be a reason why we're doing this, right? Don't tell me that meeting you had with the Prez earlier was just her giving you a punishment and that was to clean this old joint."

That got a genuine laugh from everyone, and even Esdeath had a small smile on her face as she thought of that particular scenario happening. Tatsumi also smiled for a few moments, before he shook his head and spoke.

"No, it's not like that. Although the meeting I had with Sona earlier indeed involve cleaning the old school building, but it's not a punishment. In fact, the idea of cleaning this place came from me."

His last statement caused all the members of his peerage to look at him with an eyebrow raised. What did he mean by that?

"Wait, what?!" Mine yelled, looking at Tatsumi angrily, wanting to throw the mop she had in her hands towards him. "You mean to tell me that you made us clean this place just because you _felt _like it?!"

"Nope. Just like I told Esdeath earlier, it has something to do with working your way up the ranks of the Underworld." He wiped the sweat off his forehead as he looked around him, doing a quick little inspection of the old school building. "Hm, looks like we're almost done… everything looks clean enough…" He was left pondering in his own thoughts for a moment before he turned back towards all of them. "Alright then, let's take a quick break since we're nearly done with everything that needs to be cleaned around here. And while we're resting, I'll explain to all of you what me and Sona talked about earlier."

At hearing those words, Esdeath immediately left her post and walked towards him to get the answers she wanted, followed by the other members of the Raum peerage who were also eager to find out what was going on. Chelsea and Mine first looked at each other before doing the same, just as Tatsumi began to speak again.

"Oh uh, sorry to ask Bro, but do you mind fetching Sheele outside?" Tatsumi asked Bulat, who stopped in his tracks the moment he heard his leader call for him. "She needs to be here as well, because this involves everyone." Bulat nodded and walked towards the door to call for the purple-haired airhead, but the moment he opened it, his eyes immediately widened at what he saw.

Sheele was standing just before him, holding a tray filled with sandwiches and juice boxes. "Um… I-I thought you guys might get… hungry, so I… brought some food… I think…" she said in her usual confused tone, just as Bulat stepped to the side so she can come inside.

As she walked inside the building, her head turned into different directions, admiring at how the place looked like when it was clean. "Wow, what is this place…" she muttered under her breath, just as everyone else noticed the tray of snacks which she was holding. Akame and Kurome were about to make a run for it, only to be held back by Leone and Chelsea by grabbing their uniforms from behind.

"Woah Sheele, where did you get those?" Lubbock asked, pointing to the tray of food that she held. In all honesty, he wasn't gonna complain since he was indeed feeling a bit hungry, but seeing _Sheele _of all people bringing food to them without anything wrong, is enough for him to be curious about.

"Oh, I… I thought that you would be hungry from cleaning here so… I went to the cafeteria… and… got food?" she held out the tray as Akame and Kurome quickly munched down on the sandwiches, only to be scolded by Leone and Chelsea to eat only one each.

"Really? I thought lunch period was already over for the second-years?" Bulat asked, having finished closing the door and walking back to the group.

"I-I-It is? But…" Sheele raised an eyebrow, going into her thinking mode. "There were still people there… so I… thought of getting food too… if I'm right?"

Almost all of them deadpanned at her response before Tatsumi quickly regained his composure. "Never mind that, did you at least pay for those?" he shook his head and looked down before turning his head towards Sheele once again.

All eyes were on the **Extase **user again, and this time, she bore a sad look on her face which greatly confused everyone else. "I-I did, but… he wasn't even paying attention to me so… I just left the money on the table and… took his food with me… I tried to get his attention but… he was too busy… I g-guess…" she looked away, feeling offended by what happened in the cafeteria earlier.

That left the other members of the peerage confused, especially Tatsumi since he was already attending this school. What did she mean by that? Wasn't paying attention to her? How could that happen possibly happen? He knew that the guy who manages the cafeteria was always focused on his job, so why? Left the money on the table? Wasn't it supposed to be the counter? _His _food? He packs his own lunch everyday! Too busy? Again, how would he be too busy if the guy stationed there did nothing but —!

Wait a second.

…

…

…

Oh… so _that's _what she meant by

Tatsumi hung his head low and sweat-dropped. _"So… she took someone else's food and left money as compensation for it? I mean… did I expect anything less from our resident airhead?"_ he thought, groaning to himself before bringing a hand to his face. He was losing more and more hope in Sheele by the moment. _"Man, Sona's gonna kill me for this if she finds out…"_

Meanwhile, everyone else was still confused with what Sheele was trying to say as they tried to make her explain once more, but Tatsumi quickly sprang into action to get them to focus on him again. "Guys, guys, can we focus here? This is a more important matter." Everyone else turned to him before he took the tray of food from Sheele and put it on top of the desk that was just behind him. "You can eat these sandwiches now, there's plenty more where that came from… but not the thing that I'm about to tell you. Got it?"

Nobody spoke another word after what he said, and for good measure, Esdeath sent a knowing glance at all of them, which was enough to keep them silent under her cold gaze. Although Akame remained defiant, she simply ignored the bluenette and kept her eyes on Tatsumi as she ate her sandwich.

"Alright Tatsumi, lay it on everyone. What exactly did you talk about with Sitri and why are we cleaning this place up?" Esdeath crossed her arms and remained silent afterwards, wanting to hear answers.

Tatsumi nodded. "Okay so first, while we are all enrolled in this school now except for Bro and Esdeath," he shot a quick glance at the two P.E. instructors before continuing. "We still need to form a club in which all of us are a part of it, kind of similar to how Sona's peerage is basically the student council as a whole. This club we'll be forming will have this old building as its little HQ."

"Why would we need to do that?" Esdeath asked, a bit intrigued.

"It's a way for us to conceal our activities as devils, and so it doesn't look suspicious that all of us are always together with a good reason why. Do you get me?" Everyone nodded. "Those 'activities' that I'm referring to would be the contracts that us devils do when granting a client's wish. Those wishes may range from babysitting a kid, to grocery-shopping, and more. In return, the client will give his contractor an appropriate reward. Me and Sona receive contracts at a daily basis, so it's up to you to fulfill them after school hours. I do contracts myself once in a while, and it's not really boring as it sounds like." He turned to Esdeath. "I know you want to hear this, Esdeath so pay attention. A devil's contracts will garner points over time, but it's a slow process unless the human customer is someone with great power and influence. Nevertheless, doing contracts is a steady way to work your way up the ranks of the Underworld."

"In other words, we basically have to be a _servant_, to our contractor. Is that what you 're trying to say, Tatsumi?" Esdeath remarked in a sarcastic manner, her eye twitching in irritation.

"Y-Yeah…" Tatsumi hung his head, knowing how hard it is for the bluenette to take all of this in due to her pride. In all honesty, all of Night Raid's former members looked fine with it, considering that their job back then was something similar to 'contracting'. Kurome retained her blank look, but she seemed to understand enough of it. Esdeath just remained silent after that, looking to be pondering over the situation.

"Wait, what if the client wishes for something out of our league? Like, you know… _assassinating _somebody, or something… bad? I-I-I don't know but… you get what I'm saying, right?" Leone interjected out of curiosity. She honestly hoped that her leader would get her point, because she had no idea if she even made sense in her statement. From what Tatsumi said, contracting was pretty much the same with accepting assassination contracts but did the former also involve _those_? What if someone wishes for it? Were they supposed to follow even though they weren't assassins anymore?

While the others looked surprised at hearing some truth in Leone's words, Tatsumi frowned slightly and looked down for a few moments, before continuing.

"Anything is possible, but… I haven't accepted a contract like that and nor did Sona." He then grew a serious face. "However, should that particular thing happen, we look into the situation first, especially if it involves _assassinating_. For any other matter that involves things that are out of our reach, like…" a small blush appeared on his face. "… urgh, I can't say it but… I will not tolerate contracts that wish for anything that you _cannot _provide or do within the range of your abilities."

"Got it," Leone nodded.

Tatsumi nodded in return. "What now, Esdeath? What's your stand in this?" he asked. "As of now, contracting is the only way for you to get points, but it all depends on you."

All eyes in the room were focused on the former general now, yet she didn't seem bothered by it. She only had a scowl on her face and that alone hid a lot of her cold aura. Tatsumi was so nervous on what would be her answer since he was probably asking too much from Esdeath by now. He was so nervous that he couldn't help but sigh in relief when she finally rolled her eyes and looked to the side.

"I don't even have that much of a choice, do I?" she said rhetorically. "If I try to rebel against you, the whole Underworld will be after me and I'm unsure if I am capable of handling that. Right now, you can order me around while you can, because I _will_ reach that high-class status sooner than you think."

"Thank you, Esdeath." Even though he was her king, Tatsumi slightly bowed his head. "You won't regret it, I promise you."

Despite the fact that she should be angry about it, Esdeath couldn't help but smile a bit at his act of being thankful. This Tatsumi was a lot softer, caring, and honorable compared to the one she knew back then, and that was something nice for a change. Honestly, all those times where he avoided all of her attempts at being closer to him was something that got slightly to her nerves, but she never let it conquer her, as she always believed they would be together in the end.

Tatsumi took a deep breath. "Okay, speaking of 'looking into situations', that brings me to my second point, which is what type of club I'm trying to form. I've talked about it with Sona and after some negotiations, she finally allowed it after I reminded her of what everyone here is capable of. I filled up our clouds formed in the dust, go get 'em "

Now this was interesting. Reminded Sona of what they were capable of? Tatsumi was talking about their abilities in combat, right? Even though they were now away from that life of bloodshed, the feeling of being able to fight and let loose was something that they ironically missed doing, even Akame did despite her enjoying her new life so far. His last statement caught everyone's attention as they grew serious looks on their faces.

"This club that we're going to form will officially be Kuoh's Journalism Club."

The excitement from everyone's eyes shattered as quick as it appeared, and they had deadpanned looks replacing their serious ones as a result.

"Now, in this club, we are going to —" before he could speak further, Mine was already in his face, looking at him angrily with her hands on her hips.

"Tatsumi, what is the meaning of this?!" she fumed. "You mean to tell me that we're just going to waste our time all day trying to gather boring news and create a newspaper out of it?! I thought it would be something more exciting!"

Tatsumi took a step back and raised his hands in front of him, sweat-dropping a bit. "Oi, oi, calm down… I wasn't even done explaining, Mine…" he said with a nervous smile. _"Even though I was expecting that kind of reaction from her already…"_

"Yeah he's right, Mine. Tatsumi wasn't even done explaining yet…" Chelsea said, a teasing smile appeared on her face as the pinkette turned to her with a look of annoyance. "Now are going to go for it and lock lips with the guy or are you gonna let him explain?"

Mine's face immediately turned red, as she began to sputter out incoherent noises, while everyone else shared a small chuckle at her embarrassment. However, it was Esdeath who remained passive as she looked at the pinkette; she had been observing every former member of Night Raid ever since, and it was only now that she realized Mine also had feelings for Tatsumi, thanks to her look of embarrassment. She had thought that the pink-haired sniper was bitchy in natural but based on how she saw it for the past days, Mine wasn't. She was definitely going to keep a closer eye on her, that's for sure. But wait, why would she need to do that? Was she… jealous or something? Did she still have— n-no, forget about any of that, there was a more important matter going on.

Anyway, Tatsumi simply sighed and shook his head before he finally got over that small moment of nervousness. "Guys, can we focus here so that this issue can be over with?" With that, all the attention was again towards him while Mine muttered "sorry" as she stepped back to let him speak.

The atmosphere went quiet for a few seconds and Tatsumi took that as his cue. "Alright, as I was saying earlier, the club we're going to form will be Kuoh's Journalism Club. Now I know that that might sound boring, but hear me out first." He raised a finger as a sign of assurance. "We don't actually _have _to sit down and create a newspaper out of scratch, that's not a problem when we can use our demonic powers to make one, details and all." Everyone's eyes started to widen slightly. "I'll properly train all of you on how to manifest your powers someday this week or the next, but back to the matter at hand…"

Esdeath flashed a small smirk at that; learning how to use her demonic powers not only sounds like a good power to have along with her ice manipulation, but it will also make her stronger than before. Hm, maybe she can even somehow use her demonic powers to augment her ice…

"Despite that, we still have to roam around with a camera and a notebook, take a few pictures and write down notes, but it's just to show that we are doing our job. There's no need to do it for real, understood?"

Everyone nodded again.

"Alright, now to the interesting part. It took a lot of time negotiating about this with Sona, so I hope this sits well with all of you." Most of his peerage members raised their eyebrows at that. What was Tatsumi talking about and was it really _that _hard for it to be negotiable? They were now already aware of Sona's strict nature so this was probably something that went beyond that.

"I know I said that we don't have to take the 'Journalism' part of this club seriously, but it doesn't mean we can ignore what's around us. Am I right?" He received nods from everyone else. "That's why in a similar case to contracting, I'll also be accepting requests from students to investigate any strange phenomena happening in this town. If you think about it, it's also similar to when Lubba, Leone or Mine go on a scouting mission to find out more about their targets."

While everyone else was agreeing with Tatsumi's words, Esdeath could already make out that there was a reason why he was doing this. First, he's saying that they weren't going to have to work like real journalists then he goes and takes it back moments later? Something is definitely up and those fools from Night Raid don't even have a clue! They trusted Tatsumi much! No wonder they were weak…

"Get to the point, Tatsumi…" Esdeath shook her head in disapproval. "There's a reason why you're doing this, so tell us. You simply contradicted your own words from earlier. _Why _do we need take requests just for the simple reason to investigate? Didn't you say that we don't have to take this little club seriously? Tell us the _truth_." she narrowed her eyes at her leader.

Tatsumi remained calm even under her gaze. "If I tell you now, it's too much for you now that you've just started school. I fear that what happened after all of you woke up from that deep sleep will happen again, and that was a mistake on my part. I'll be careful from now on. Just wait for it, because the right moment is not far from happening, trust me. When that happens, you'll have all the answers you want."

"Tsk, what could be worse than finding out you were reincarnated into a devil and learning about the supernatural world?" she asked sarcastically before donning a serious look. "If you're thinking that I will immediately shrug off whatever it is that you are hiding, I am willing to listen now."

The Raum heir sighed. "Esdeath, I know that I've already asked too much of you and I know it's getting on your nerves…"

"You have no idea…" Esdeath was losing the internal battle against her anger.

"But all I ask now is for your patience, that will be my last request. The answers you want to get will automatically come to you when _that _happens, but I need you to trust me on this first. My friends here have placed their trust in me, and I'm not gonna let them down. If you can put your trust in me as well, I'll… do the same for you too. I won't let you down as well." Like earlier, Tatsumi once again bowed his head as everyone else turned to Esdeath.

She wanted to retort that his _friends_ were too naive and weak-minded to follow their own opinions, but Esdeath didn't want to start a full-scale fight here, especially when they had just worked hard to clean this place. And again, there was also the matter of the whole Underworld being after her head if she tried anything.

The answer in her mind appeared to be enough for her, as she wanted to respond immediately and finish this. She scowled and looked away, expressing her annoyance. "Doesn't mean I have to like it," was her simple response, yet it hid a lot of intent behind it.

"That's more than enough for me," Tatsumi smiled and looked at all of his other peerage members. "Now, you know the reason why I had everyone help out in cleaning this place up. We still have some work left to do before we finish up here, but now I'm going to ask…"

He held out his fist in front of him. "Will you accept being a part of this Journalism Club and all that are included in it, including Devil activities? I know that as your king, you should follow what I say. But I want to be sure that you're doing this out of your own choice, otherwise it's not right. So… will you accept?" he asked, waiting for their answers.

It took more than ten seconds for somebody to answer, showing that they were slightly taken aback with his words. True, since he was their leader, that pretty much left no room for any argument, but his statement after that caught them all off guard. He wanted them to accept out of their own choice, and he wasn't even going to bargain or anything!

Finally, it was Lubbock who stretched out his arm first, his hand enclosed in a fist. "What can I say? I missed doing scouting missions all the time back during our days in Night Raid… taking requests about keeping an eye out on situations sounds fun." he said, grinning widely.

That was when Leone had her cue, joining the two guys. "This pervert's got a point," she breathed out with a smile. "Investigating strange happenings sounds interesting, and being in a club with all of ya… it feels like we're just back at the house!"

"I want to help as well. You're all my friends, and I will be by your side always." Akame stated, stretching out her arm. Kurome, although silent, did the same thing as her Big Sis and flashed a small smile across her face.

"Count me in!" Chelsea cheered on, outstretching her fist too.

"Um, me too… I think…?" Sheele slowly did the same as the others did, while still retaining the confused expression that she bore on her face.

"I ain't gonna be left out of this, so bring me in with all of you!" Bulat followed what everyone did, walking forward from his place and showing them his right fist.

"Wait, don't forget about me! I want to help too!" Mine exclaimed, quickly moving from her place to outstretch her arm then her fist, a smile breaking out upon her face.

Nearly all of the Raum peerage already had their fists outstretched like a pact, save for one bluenette who kept on staring at them with an emotionless look. No, this was something that she saw below her. She was _not _going to do that like everyone else, disobeying Tatsumi's order be damned.

Everyone then turned to her as a result, and Tatsumi smiled nervously. "Come on Esdeath, it's not complete without you so join in." he urged her to come and do the same, but she only scoffed and rolled her eyes.

"You already know what my answer is, so why would I do the same? I do not have the same mindset that you possess, so these actions are nothing more than a show of childishness in my eyes."

Surprisingly, Leone spoke up with a grin on her face, which also caught a few of her friends off guard. "Hey come on, it's not that bad, Ice Queen. Join in, you'll like it!" She may not be able to forgive Esdeath for everything that happened in the past, but even Leone knew that that wouldn't do any good. Everything that happened has already happened, and right now, the present is what matters the most. If they were a part of the same peerage, so be it. The best thing Leone could do is to lessen the disdain she felt towards her former enemy and joke around like she always does.

Esdeath was a bit surprised that the Little Kitten would go so far as to persuade her to join them, even though she knew that Leone most likely hated her guts. Why would she do that? Did something happen to her brain or anything? Anyway, she was about to decline yet again only for Tatsumi to walk towards her with a normal hand outstretched.

Tatsumi let out a massive sigh."Alright, I can understand that those kinds of stuff make you uncomfortable, so let's just settle with this. Yeah, I know your answer, but I'm going to need this to solidify it and make no room for hesitation. Do you accept being a part of all this, Esdeath?"

Despite everything that just transpired, a small smirk found its way to Esdeath's lips as she moved her hand towards Tatsumi's in a handshake, solidifying their agreement. The young man smiled proudly, which made Esdeath quickly reminisce about all those times wherein she saw his _infectious _smile, causing her to blush slightly.

"Now _this _is something I prefer rather than what you were doing with them earlier," Esdeath remarked, hiding her embarrassment by talking big as usual.

Tatsumi smirked. "Really? In that case, I'll make it one of my goals for you to join us in our little team-huddle up moments. You're a part of this, and you can't escape that fact."

"Hah, I'd like to see you try. I enjoy a handshake more, it's only between the two of us and…" she leaned closer towards his face with a teasing smirk. "It makes us look _closer_~" Tatsumi quickly blushed at that, but he managed to keep himself together.

He faked a cough and looked at his surroundings to divert his mind off Esdeath's words earlier. "Yeah well, we better get back to work and get this finished. We're almost done here anyway! Let's finish cleaning this so we can get home and rest!" Everyone nodded, even Esdeath (who was satisfied from the embarrassed look Tatsumi showed), as they carried on with cleaning,

That was the day that Kuoh's Journalism Club was officially born.

**Arc 1: Restart - END**

* * *

_**And that concludes the first arc of the story! Basically, this whole arc was reintroducing the AGK characters (except Tatsumi) into the modern world, and basic explanations of the supernatural that they needed to learn. Did you enjoy each character's introduction in school? Why did Tatsumi go for a Journalism Club? Well, if you didn't quite get it, you'll just have to wait and see. Next arc, we finally head to the first arc of DxD, and all DxD fans know that it's the Raynare arc! Of course, there's gonna be action there, hahahahaha! Excited for what's gonna happen? Stay tuned to find out!**_

_**Before any of you ask, yes, Asia will appear in the story. Since Tatsumi and his peerage have replaced Rias' role in Kuoh, things are gonna happen way differently than in canon. Just wait and see for yourself.**_

_**In case you missed it, these are the aliases that the Raum peerage use in the human world. Since AGK characters had no last name of any sort, I had to search for last names that fit their names properly.**_

_**Tatsumi Hinogawa - Japan**_

_**Chelsea Brooks - America**_

_**Akame Hirano - Japan**_

_**Kurome Hirano - Japan**_

_**Mine Miyamoto - Japan**_

_**Bulat Rumelhart - England**_

_**Lubbock Lemmenez - Mexico**_

_**Eri Hinogawa - Japan**_

_**Leone Liberti - Italy**_

_**Sheele Fiores - Mexico**_

_**To those confused about Esdeath's complicated attitude, Esdeath in canon is also a first-timer in the aspect of love and even she was unsure of her own feelings, that's why she noticed Mine just now. She will also come to realize that the other girls also have feelings for Tatsumi, right now she simply thinks Leone and the other girls love teasing him. Heck, even Esdeath is torn between her feelings for him and her freedom because a few chapters ago she nearly fought for her freedom only to share a makeout session with Tatsumi that night, but that's another matter to be settled in the future. At the moment, she is confused but her freedom is what drives her, not love.**_

_**Tatsumi's peerage:**_

_**King: Tatsumi**_

_**Queen: Esdeath**_

_**Bishop: Mine**_

_**Bishop: Lubbock**_

_**Rook: Leone**_

_**Rook: Bulat**_

_**Knight: Akame**_

_**Knight: Kurome**_

_**Pawn (4x): Chelsea**_

_**Pawn (4x): Sheele**_

_**Goodbye… and good night! BANG! *too sweet gesture***_

_**-Lance**_


	10. Yuuma Amano

_**ANNOUNCEMENT: If you want to stay updated with me and story ideas and updates that I have, join the Discord server for writers using the link below. I'll post my chapter updates there. Other fanfiction writers are also there and you might know them too, so join now and stay updated! Who knows? We might inspire you to be writers yourselves! (Remove the brackets, btw):**_

_**[discord . gg / 4y5QVPj]**_

_**Disclaimer: I don't own Akame ga Kill, Highschool DxD, or any of its characters...**_

* * *

**Arc 2: Fall from Grace**

**(One week later)**

"I'll see you tomorrow, thank you for today, everyone! Don't forget to do your homework and study hard!" the teacher said, waving her hand goodbye.

"Goodbye, sensei!" the whole class of 2-A sang in unison, and the moment the older woman stepped out of the room, all of the students were back to minding their own business. It was nearly lunch period, and their teacher simply chose to dismiss them early because of an appointment later on. Most of the girls were chatting amongst themselves, the boys resorting to using their phones, while a certain duo were excited at the prospect of once again peeking at the girls of the Kendo Club later on.

Akame looked over towards Chelsea, who was busy using her phone. A few days after they began going to school, Tatsumi gifted her with a cellphone, feeling that the gadget would be perfect for Chelsea. The auburn-haired girl accepted it happily, giving Tatsumi a small peck on the cheek afterwards for being so thoughtful, making the young man blush in embarrassment. Mine, Leone, Akame, and even Esdeath looked on with jealousy in their eyes but Tatsumi quickly snapped out of his embarrassed state before anything could happen. Lubbock, Bulat and surprisingly Sheele all asked for a phone of their own as well but Tatsumi didn't have any spare ones. However, he did promise to eventually have everyone bear their own cell phones (yes, even Sheele). Akame and Kurome felt like they didn't need one of their own, so they didn't bother to ask but if Tatsumi was planning on giving them one anyway, well then so be it.

Looking towards Sheele, the purple-haired woman was sleeping on top of her desk, drooling slightly. It was slightly confusing, since everyone in the house get the appropriate amount of sleep every night but okay, she would attract less attention this way.

Akame then turned towards the clock on the wall. _"It's almost lunchtime… maybe I could just buy some meaty sandwiches and head straight to the club." _she smiled with sparkles replacing her eyes, just the thought of eating meat gave her enough motivation. Yeah, she would just go on ahead of Sheele and Chelsea, they'll show up at the old school building later anyway.

Standing up, she headed straight for the door, only to hear two voices call out for her.

"Akame-san! Akame-san!"

Turning around, she saw two of her classmates approach her. One was a girl with short brown hair while the other had light pink hair and Akame knew them as Murayama and Katase. It had been a week since they joined this class, of course she would get to know who she's going to be with for the whole year.

"Yes?"

Murayama was the first to speak. "Akame-san, before you leave, we want to offer you something." she spoke and Akame nodded as a sign that she was listening. Hmm, what could they possibly give her right now? Maybe share some food with her since it's almost lunchtime? If so, then she would definitely accept meat. Yes, some tender and juicy grilled meat~

It was Katase who spoke after her brunette friend. "W-We would like to extend an invitation for you to join the Kendo club, Akame-san!" she spoke, bowing her head slightly.

All thoughts of meat in her mind immediately left the moment she heard what Katase said, and Akame blinked a few times to process everything. "Eh?" she voiced out, tilting her head slightly to show her confusion.

"We want to invite you to join the Kendo club, Akame-san!" Murayama spoke again, with her bowing this time. "We heard about what you said last week when you introduced yourself, that you liked to train with a sword and as members of the Kendo club, we would be honored to have another practitioner in our ranks!"

"Oh, um…" Akame didn't know how to answer at first, since apart from school works and group activities, this was the first time one of her classmates approached her about issues outside of the classroom. "Murayama-san…"

"Please call me Risa, there's no need for honorifics when it comes to my friends." the brunette shook her head and pointed to herself, before pointing to her pink-haired friend. "And please refer to her as Kaori."

"Then… Risa-san…" Akame was just too polite for her own good, more so that she was in an environment where there are no _scum _around. Being the introvert that she is, Akame looked down and avoided their gazes, not wanting to hurt them with her next words. "I'm sorry, but I can't join. I'm… already a part of another club…"

Katase raised her eyebrows. "Oh, is it about the Journalism Club that Chelsea-san and Sheele-san are also a part of? If so, we already know about that."

Yeah, not long after the first day of classes, the news about the academy having its own Journalism club emerged, being already composed of some selected students the moment it was formed. It was a bit suspicious that the members were all students who were new to the school, hell even the club's advisers, Bulat-sensei and Eri-sensei, were also new to Kuoh Academy. There were some students who wanted to join and contribute to the club, but for some reason, they didn't accept any more members, adding more to that building suspicion. However, the club's president was none other than Tatsumi Hinogawa of Class 3-B and thanks to his presence, suspicions and murmurs regarding the club slowly faded away. Their first week as an official school organization went fine, as they provided a weekly newspaper for the students and accepted requests for any suspicious/out of the blue events happening around.

"If you already know, then why are you asking me this?" Akame asked, clearly confused.

Murayama raised an eyebrow. "Oh, didn't you know? A student can join up to three clubs at max, provided that he/she is capable of maintaining school grades and perform club activities without trouble."

"Meaning?"

It was at this time that both Kendo girls sweat-dropped. Was Akame a bit of an airhead like Sheele? If that was the case, then that would make things _harder_. They could only hope it wasn't like that at all. "I-It means you can join up to three clubs of your choosing, but only if you can keep your school grades above or along the passing grade and balance that with your club activities." Risa explained.

Katase spoke again, hoping this would seal it. "In other words, you can join the Kendo club _and _be a part of the Journalism club at the same time, as long as you keep being an active student here in class."

Akame was in deep thought afterwards, finally getting it. The thought of being able to train with others in the Kendo club sounded like a good idea, that would help maintain her body and skills in tiptop condition, and she could also pass on some of her knowledge since she knew that she was the only one with _real _experience if she did join. But then again, what would Tatsumi say about it? Will he even allow her to join another club? He was her king so, she should follow what he says, right?

Finally having her answer, Akame turned back to the two girls before her and spoke. "I'm not sure what to say regarding this, maybe I should ask Tatsumi first. Is it possible for me to come back to you with a proper answer after I talk with him?"

Kaori slammed her fist into her palm in realization. "Oh right, I almost forgot about that! Your club president is Tatsumi-senpai, right?" Akame nodded. "Well then, go talk to him about what we said, okay? I'm sure he won't mind it since he's too much of a gentleman, but it's better if you confirm it with him first. We'll be waiting for your answer anytime, Akame-san."

Risa bowed her head again with a smile. "Yes, the invitation is open for you to accept anytime."

"Thank you for understanding, Risa-san. Kaori-san. I shall give you my answer tomorrow morning." Akame bowed towards each of them in return, before walking out of the room.

* * *

After grabbing a lunch bag filled with tasty meaty sandwiches (yum~!), Akame headed towards the old school building where the club room was located. Although Tatsumi has been telling her since last week that it was fine with him if she spent her lunch at the cafeteria rather than eat at the clubroom, Akame still kept on doing it for who-knows-why. While the others spent their lunch at the cafeteria, including Tatsumi, Akame can be always seen eating her meat sandwiches either outside of the old school building or on one of the couches inside.

Either way, it was fine as long as she would be present for, shall we say, "club activities". And so far, she was already in the long run for being the most active member.

As she went inside, few of the members were already there. Leone was sleeping peacefully on one couch, Esdeath was sitting with Kurome (still eating her candies) while reading a book on the other, and Tatsumi was behind his desk sorting out freshly-created newspapers. Since they were supoosed to be the Journalism club, they had to maintain that image, right? This was the case most of the time. The third-years had an earlier dismissal period, giving Tatsumi and Leone enough time to enjoy eating. The first-year students had their classrooms at the ground floor of the academy, making it easier for them to have their lunch. Bulat and Esdeath's shifts end around the same time too.

Speaking of Bulat, he probably waited in the cafeteria for Mine, Lubba, Chelsea and Sheele so they could eat together. That drew the suspicions of some people due to the weird scenario of a teacher casually having lunch with a specific group of students, but it wasn't anything big.

Tatsumi looked up from his desk when he heard someone come in, and he could only roll his eyes playfully upon seeing it was Akame.

"You're still not going to do as I say about eating your lunch at the cafeteria, are ya?" he crossed his arms and smirked.

Akame noticed the tone in his voice and decided to play along by simply showing him an innocent smile. "No," she answered with a shake of her head.

Esdeath sneered to herself; she liked it better when Akame wasn't around, since nobody would annoy her like she did, anyway. The raven-haired assassin was something else, always making pointless threats at her even when she knew that there was no point in doing so, first would be that Esdeath still had her powers, and Akame didn't have Murasame. Maybe Akame just did it for the fun in getting on Esdeath's nerves or something…

Meanwhile, Tatsumi just sighed in defeat and continued to organize the newspapers on his desk. "I'll make a mental note never to bring this up again, then. It's been a week and it looks like you're not really going to change at all." He let out a slight chuckle in the end, causing Akame to do the same. "What, are you going to stand there all day? Take a seat and eat up, because once you're done, I need your help organizing these papers. Normally, Leone helps me with this while you're with the others distributing these papers to the students but today, she's out of it."

Akame nodded and headed towards the couch where Esdeath and Kurome were, before she sat comfortably beside her sister and started to gobble up her lunch.

* * *

After Akame was finished eating, she went on to assist her leader in organizing the school papers. It wasn't hard, since all she had to do was just keep in notice of how many newspapers that each year level needed. While her and Tatsumi were busy working on arranging everything, the other members of the peerage had walked in, finished with their lunch.

It took the next 30 minutes for Tatsumi and Akame to finally finish organizing all the newspapers, which afterwards he told Mine and the rest of his peerage members (except for Leone, Esdeath, Bulat and Kurome) to go distribute the different stacks of papers to eqach classroom in the school. Although he told her that she had done enough, Akame still volunteered to help out even in giving out the newspapers and since he knew there was no stopping her if she wanted to do something, Tatsumi let her go.

Now it was only him, Esdeath, Bulat, Kurome and Leone remaining in the clubroom. The blonde **Lionelle **user was still sleeping, and now it was only a mystery on what got her so tired. Bulat was paying close attention to reading a yaoi romance pocketbook that he had 'confiscated' from a student earlier, while Kurome simply leaned her head on Esdeath's shoulder with a blank look since she had no more candies left to munch on. Esdeath didn't seem to mind at all, since she seemed to be deep in thought about something.

Tatsumi stood up from his seat and slowly walked towards Esdeath. The sound of his footsteps was enough for her to snap out of her thoughts and turn her head towards him.

"Do you wish to tell me something, Tatsumi?" she asked, raising an eyebrow at him.

"I'm heading out to buy some groceries. Until I get back, you're in charge of things around here, Esdeath."

Esdeath frowned at him for a few moments before huffing. "Well that shouldn't be too hard, since everybody else is out delivering the _stupid_ newspapers while we are doing nothing." she answered in a sarcastic way, but making sure to show how much she disliked this club. Ever since its formation, Esdeath immediately hated the fact that she, as the teacher appointed as the adviser of the organization, needed to stay after classes in order to keep an eye on the club's activities. She would rather go home and take a nice hot bath to relax after a day of teaching maggots and training them to their full potential, but no, they had to stay here and do their _job_ while she had to watch over them.

Can't Bulat be the one to do it instead?

"Um… just keep things under control here, will you? I'll be back as soon as I can…" He sweat-dropped slightly, knowing full well that she didn't like the Journalism Club one bit. _"She'll get used to it…"_

Almost immediately, Kurome stood up from the couch and looked up at her senior. "Tatsumi-nii, can I come with you?" she asked in the same monotone voice as her sister. There was no doubt she wanted to come just so she could have some more candies to eat.

"Of course you can, come on." Tatsumi smiled at the girl before inviting her to his side with a simple gesture. Kurome walked towards him, grabbing the hem of his uniform as the two walked out of the building.

Esdeath kept a close eye on them as they left, all while having personal thoughts of her own, particularly at this strange decision by her king just now. _"Tatsumi already bought fresh groceries about two days ago, so why does he need to go out again? He couldn't have forgotten to buy a few items, could he? And he always goes out when it is the weekend, not when it is a school day…"_ she tried to theorize in her mind.

Bulat looked up from the book he was reading and noticed the conflicted expression on Esdeath's face. Being the person who was supposed to keep her in check, he needed to find out if she was planning something and if it was good or not.

"What are you thinking about?" he asked.

Hearing Bulat's voice brough Esdeath out of her thoughts, but in turn, it made the woman turn towards him with an idea in mind. Perhaps he could help give answers to Tatsumi's strange decision.

"Tell me," the way Esdeath sounded menacing while saying those words made the **Incursio** user flinch slightly, and he prepared for the worst in the case that she had something sinister planned. "...did Tatsumi forget to buy something when he went out shopping for groceries last Saturday?"

"W-Wha…?" It took a moment for his brain to process what Esdeath said, causing the bluenette to roll her eyes at Bulat. She had heard of this man through Liver, one of her former subordinates, and she heard nothing but respect and praise for him but now that she was seeing the real deal before her…

...perhaps her subordinate was wrong, after all.

"Oh! Uh… I don't think so?" Bulat's eventual answer wasn't convincing at all, and it only made Esdeath narrow her eyes further at him. He waved his hands in front of him desperately. "Wait, wait, I just remember Tatsumi buying the usual stuff, you know? Food and cleaning stuff for the week, that's all. Nothing more!"

The woman's frown lessened, but she remained skeptical nonetheless. "But if that was the case, then why would there be a need for him to go buy groceries again today? It doesn't make sense, and I can sense that Tatsumi is planning something." she thought out loud.

"Eh, I wouldn't worry about it." Bulat waved her off and leaned back on the couch as he continued to read the book in his hand.

Esdeath then sent him a look of confusion as to why he would say that. Wasn't he at the very least concerned that his friend might be up to something?

"He probably just forgot to buy something so he went out to get it. That's how Tatsumi is back then, he can be all serious for one second, and then the next thing you know, he messes up. It's nothing to worry about though, so let's just wait until he gets back with Akame's sister. They'll be back before you know it."

_"You don't get it at all…"_ Esdeath shook her head in disappointment at Bulat's ignorance. _"When will you people understand that Tatsumi isn't the same as the one you came to know in the past? He's hiding many things from you, and yet you dare to call him your friend."_ She looked down and clasped her hands together, breathing into it slowly. _"Am I the only one among his peerage who thinks this way? If so, I will have to find a way in order to make them notice how ignorant they are, not that I care about them in any way. I simply want Tatsumi to see that he cannot be a proper King while being like this, unlike me. It's a rank befitting someone with the power and experience, and Tatsumi is far from achieving those two."_ she thought with pride.

_"And who knows? Once his friends from Night Raid finally see the error of his ways, they'll have no choice but to leave and that is when I will make my move."_

* * *

Just as what Bulat stated, Tatsumi had forgotten to buy some extra meat for the following week. He knew of how Akame was like when it came to eating meat, being the carnivore she was, so it's best to be sure and grab some extra ones from the market. Of course, he would make sure that this fresh batch he'd buy would be _hidden _from Akame, just to be able to prevent her from having a bite.

Because once she does get a bite, it's unlikely that she would stop.

Wait, scratch that. She definitely _won't_ stop.

Right now, him and Kurome were on their way back home. The girl held a brand-new jar of candies in her hand, munching on them silently as she followed Tatsumi. Meanwhile, the Raum heir glanced at the little girl walking beside him. For the past week, he was troubled with the thought of how his peerage felt about all this, and this wasn't anything like when Leone talked to him in the bath. He realized that her words had a deeper meaning to it, and he was worried.

She remained silent the whole time, until the young man turned to her with a thoughtful look on his face.

"Kurome?" he called out to her.

"Hm?"

"Um… I know that… you and I didn't really see eye-to-eye back then…" he rubbed the back of his head as he spoke. "You know, because of the Empire, the war between the Jaegers and Night Raid and all… but I just wanna ask, how do you feel about all of this?"

Kurome tilted her head in confusion.

"It's just… it's been a week since all of you came back to this world, and you're not humans anymore too… I'm just wondering how you feel about being alive again." He took a deep breath. "I feel like you're the only person I can talk to about this without taking this in a personal way. If I talk to your sister or my other friends in Night Raid, they'll likely give me a biased answer but if I go for Esdeath, it'll be complicated. As your King, I'm worried that I may not be acting like one, is all…"

"Tatsumi-nii… wants to know how I feel?" she asked, before pondering over that little question for a bit.

"Yes… and why are you calling me that, anyway? I'm not your brother or anything." He said, sweat-dropping. "I didn't mind much last week since you were just brought back into the world that time, but now I'm afraid that it might turn into a habit."

"Do you… want me to call you 'Tatsumi-sama', instead?" she asked with her eyes turning into single black pupils, just like how her sister would at times.

"Ahh, no! No, I was just curious on why you keep referring to me as your brother! You don't need to call me that, please!" he quickly exclaimed with a nervous grin, and Kurome looked at him blankly afterwards. Tatsumi sighed, realizing this was going nowhere and simply continued on walking. "J-Just forget what I said…"

There was silence between the two of them for a few moments before Kurome spoke up once again.

"I'm happy."

Tatsumi heard her words and quickly turned his head to the young girl, raising an eyebrow. "What did you say?"

"I guess… I feel happy with all this." Kurome stated bluntly, gazing at the jar of candies in her hand with a small smile.

"What do you mean by that?" Tatsumi was worried that she might just be saying this because she had all the candies she could eat now, because if that were the case, this would go nowhere.

"I'm sure Big Sis already told you this, but we were sold to the Empire at a young age and trained to be mindless weapons. We grew up as assassins, and while she rebelled against the Empire, I stayed and we eventually became enemies."

"Y-Yeah, she told me that…" Tatsumi nodded, remembering how Akame told him about her past. It was honestly one of the bigger reasons why he chose to revive his friends from Night Raid. Compared to all of them, Akame had a very dark childhood, and Tatsumi believed that nobody deserved such a fate whether it be a human, a devil, an angel, or a fallen angel.

"We were robbed of our childhood, and we never had the chance to experience what it was like being happy. For assassins like us, emotions are just hindrances."

"Tell me about it…" he sighed.

"But now that I'm in a whole new world, everything changed all of a sudden. The last thing I remember… was fighting Big Sis and… we were trying to kill each other…" she said in what Tatsumi could only make out as a voice that showed sadness. "I died, and then… I woke up here. Everything was so confusing at first… but thanks to Tatsumi-nii, I was able to understand. Tatsumi-nii is a friend of Big Sis, and that's all I need to see you as someone I can look up to."

"But how can you say that you feel happy with this? Doesn't it bother you that… I brought you back to life? As a devil too, mind you."

"At first, it did." she answered honestly. "I should've stayed dead as a way to atone for everything I did back then. But like I said, I understood your reasons and… you even brought back Big Sis… so we can be together…" her voice trembled slightly with emotion which made Tatsumi nervous. He didn't want to make her cry or anything! "I understand that Tatsumi-nii wanted us to have a second chance… even the General… and… I can't be more thankful for it…"

"K-Kurome…" he muttered in shock, as he never saw the girl act like this before, not even when he through his short time spent with the Jaegers.

She looked up at him, her lips forming a small smile. "I'm not used to emotions because of what happened in the past, but I think that can be changed now… since the Empire is gone… and the same thing goes for Big Sis." she said, before she flashed a full-blown smile with her eyes closed. "Right now, I feel… happy that I was given a second chance… I feel happy that I can be with Big Sis from now on too… if Tatsumi-nii is still doubting himself, then I will do my best as a member of your peerage to make sure you never regret your decision."

Tatsumi was left wide-eyed after she spoke, to the point that he wondered if this girl was really Kurome. Anyway, he made sure to listen to every word she said and he eventually found himself smiling afterwards.

"Thanks, Kurome… t-that makes me feel a lot better honestly…" he said with an embarrassed smile. True enough, he felt that a large weight was somehow removed from his chest and now he felt that he could breathe normally. "Then… I'll do my best as well. Thanks again for being honest with me, Kurome."

The girl only nodded and the pair continued on their way, only for Tatsumi to see a girl running towards him. Even from afar, he could see her slender figure, long black hair, and violet eyes. She was wearing a uniform that wasn't anything like the one that Kuoh Academy uses. The only thing he needed as evidence was the scarlet vest and the green skirt that she wore.

_"So this is when she decides to show up…"_ Tatsumi thought, narrowing his eyes. For the past week, he had sensed a foreign presence following him around, and he deduced that it was anything but good. He quickly turned towards Kurome as they stopped walking. "H-Hey Kurome, can you sit on that bench over there for a moment and wait for me? I'm just going to talk with a friend. Don't worry, I won't be long!" he said, pointing to the nearby wooden bench.

Kurome was confused. Why was there a need for her to go sit somewhere and wait for him? She could just stay with him and meet this 'friend' he was talking about, she's not even a 'chatterbox' type of person. Regardless, Kurome nodded and walked over to the bench and sat on it, just as Tatsumi's 'friend' appeared in front of him and at first glance, she thought it was her Big Sis.

"Um… excuse me…" the girl took in deep breaths from running all the way as she looked up at the boy before her. "Are you Tatsumi Hinogawa?"

Tatsumi only smiled and scratched his cheek, a bit embarrassed that a beautiful girl from a different school knew him. Of course, he knew how to make his emotions genuine so that nobody can figure him out. "Y-Yeah, I am… do you need something from me?" he replied.

"My name is Yuuma Amano and I was wondering… would you be my boyfriend?" the girl named Yuuma said, blushing heavily in the process.

"W-What…?" Tatsumi said in disbelief. He never thought this would happen, especially with the _real_ _nature_ of this girl before him.

"You see, I've been watching you from afar because I'm… a bit shy. You seem like a nice guy, and well, I figured I'd go for it." Yuuma said, smiling warmly at him.

_"She's been watching me from afar… and decides to ask me out all of sudden? Well, at the very least, she chooses to go for me and not my friends… even though Kurome's with me…"_ The Raum heir thought to himself. He had discussed this issue with Sona already, and he volunteered to look more into it until he figures out why _they_ were here in their territory. For that, he decided to play along. "Sure, I'll be your boyfriend!" he returned her smile with one of his own.

"That makes me so happy! I'll see you soon, Tatsumi!" Yuuma said with a big smile, before skipping off. Tatsumi kept his gaze towards her retreating form and thought about her possible intentions, before he felt something tug on his hand.

He turned his head to see Kurome holding his hand while looking up at him with a blank face.

"Can we go back now?" she asked, obviously bored having to wait for Tatsumi to finish his 'conversation' with his 'friend'.

"Yeah, let's go…" Tatsumi rubbed the back of his head, feeling embarrassed that he had to make the girl wait for him. He held Kurome's hand tight as he led the way back to the academy, failing to notice the look of suspicion that the girl was giving him.

Due to having his attention to his 'friend' earlier, he was unable to see that Kurome was actually listening in on his conversation, and the raven-haired girl heard everything. Being an assassin, she was trained on how to eavesdrop on a discussion without getting detected, so this was pretty much child's play for her. She raised an eyebrow at Tatsumi, wondering what he was up to. She had never seen that person before, and she was sure that her Big Sis, the General, and the others had no clue who the girl was.

And yet, Tatsumi accepted being the girl's boyfriend like it was nothing. If she knew anything about her King so far, it's that he doesn't have any interest in pursuing romantic relationships, since he rejects any advances made by the girls who have a crush on him in school. He even gets flustered when he gets into, uh… _embarrassing_ situations with her sister, and the other members of the peerage. What happened just now had her both confused and suspicious with what Tatsumi had in mind. However, Kurome decided that she needed help in dealing with this matter, and she knew just who to consult.

_"The General and Big Sis would want to hear about this…"_ she thought to herself, making a mental note to tell those two about what she found out today.

* * *

_**Well, that starts this new arc. Sorry if it's too short for your taste but save your complaints until next chapter. For this one, I had Akame making the first interaction with DxD characters, namely the members of the Kendo Club, while Tatsumi and Kurome have some development which will make their bond stronger than before. They didn't interact much in AGK canon, so yeah. And from that person that just showed up in the end, you guys all know who that is, so like I said, save the complaints for next chapter.**_

_**Goodbye… and good night! BANG! *too sweet gesture***_

_**-Lance**_


End file.
